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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


1 

WOMEN'S  WAGES 


STUDIES  IN  HISTORY,  ECONOMICS  AND  PUBLIC  LAW 

EDITED  BY  THE  FACULTY  OF   POLITICAL  SCIENCE 
OF  COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY 

Volume  LXXXIX]  [Number  1 

Whole  Number  202 


WOMEN'S  WAGES 


A  Study  of  the  Wages  of  Industrial  Women  and 
Measures  Suggested  to  Increase  Them 


EMILIE  JOSEPHINE  HUTCHINSON,  Ph.D. 

Lecturer  in  Eeoncmies 
Barnard  College,  Columbia  University 


COLUMBIA    UNIVERSITY 

LONGMANS,  GREEN  &  CO.,  AGENTS 

London  :  P.  S.  King  k  Son,  Ltd. 

1919 


Copyright,  1919 

BY 

EMILIE  JOSEPHINE  HUTCHINSON 


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CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Introduction u 

CHAPTER  I 
The  Wages  of  Industrial  Women 

Data  from  the  Federal  Census  of  Manufactures,  1905 15 

Data  from  the  Report  on  the  Condition  of  Woman  and    Child 

Wage-earners 17 

Data  from  the  Reports  of  State  Labor  Bureaus    , 19 

New  Jersey 19 

Kansas 20 

Iowa 20 

Massachusetts 21 

Data  from  Reports  of  Commissions  of  Inquiry 22 

Connecticut 22 

Michigan 22 

Oregon 22 

Minnesota 22 

Washington   .... 23 

California 23 

New  York 23 

Massachusetts 24 

Comparison  of  the  Wage  Scale  for  Women  with  that  for  Men  .   .  25 

Concentration  in  Wage  Classes 25 

The  Range  of  Earnings 26 

Comparison  by  Means  of  Median  Groups  and  Average  Weekly 

Earnings 27 

Comparison  of  the  Wages  of  Men  and  Women  Employed  in 

the  Same  Occupations 29 

The  Cotton  Textile  Industry  in  New  England 29 

Men's  Ready-made  Clothing 32 

The  Silk  Industry 33 

Conclusion 34 

5]  5 


G89:1 


11^ 


6                                              CONTENTS  [6 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  II 
Wages  and  the  Cost  of  Living 

The  Cost  of  Living  as  a  Test  of  Wages 35 

Estimates  of  the  Cost  of  Living  of  Women  Workers 35 

Massachusetts  Brush  Makers'  Wage  Board 36 

Washington  Industrial  Welfare  Commission 36 

Oregon  Industrial  Welfare  Commission 36 

Minnesota  Minimum  Wage  Commission 36 

Method  by  which  Estimates  have  been  made 36 

Items  Included  in  the  Budget 37 

Interpretation  of  the  Items,  and  their  Expression  in  Dol- 
lars and  Cents ....  38 

Comparison  of  Weekly  Cost  of  Standard  of  Living  and  Women's 

Weekly  Earnings 43 

Results  of  Earning  Less  than  a  Living  Wage 44 

The  Situation  of  the  Girl  who  Lives  at  Home 44 

The  "  Pin-money  "  Theory  of  Earnings  Unsound 45 

Is  there  an  Economic  Advantage  in  Living  at  Home?   ....  45 

Wage  Earners  who  do  not  Live  at  Home 48 

Influence  of  a  Sub-Normal  Standard  of  Living  on  Welfare  of  tke 

Race  and  on  Moral  Standards 48 

Summary 5° 

CHAPTER  III 
Factors  Affecting  Women's  Wages 

Women's  Wages  affected  by  Factors  Peculiar  to  Women's  Indus- 
trial Experience 51 

Youth  of  Female  Wage  Earners 51 

Influence  in  Restricting  Girls  to  Simplest  Kinds  of  Work.  53 
Illustrations   of    Occupations    Carried    on    by    Girls   and 

Women 53 

Temporary  Stay  in  Industry 56 

Absence  of  Collective  Bargaining 59 

Difference  in  Economic  Status  and  Function  Between  Men 

and  Women  and  its  Effect  upon  Women's  Wages 61 

Summary  of  Factors  Influencing  Women's  Wages 66 

Effect  upon  the  Girl's  Attitude  toward  Wage-Earning  ....  66 


7]                                           CONTENTS  7 

PA.OE 

CHAPTER  IV 

Minimum-Wage  Legislation:  Its  Scope  and  Character 

Introduction  of  Minimum-Wage  Legislation  in  the  United  States.  68 

Status  of  Legislation  Pending  Decision  on  Constitutionality   ...  68 

Types  of  Minimum- Wage  Laws 69 

Wage  Commissions 70 

Application  of  Wage  Legislation 72 

Principle  of  Wage  Determination 72 

Exceptions 73 

Enforcement 74 

Safeguard  of  Witnesses 75 

Appropriations 75 

The  Legal  Minimum  Wage  in  the  Australasian  States 75 

Wage  Legislation  in  Great  Britain 77 

Wage  Legislation  in  France 78 

Summary 79 

CHAPTER  V 
The  Argument  for  and  against  Minimum- Wage  Legislation 

Wage  Laws  the  Latest   Addition   to   Protective   Legislation   for 

Women  and  Children 81 

Object  of  Wage  Legislation  to  Guard  Against  Pernicious  Effect  of 

Low  Wages 81 

Effect  upon  Bargaining  Power 82 

Effect  upon  Business  Methods 84 

Effect  upon  Productivity 88 

The  Argument  Against  Wage  Legislation go 

Violates   Fundamental   Principles   by  which    Wages  are  De- 
termined    50 

Weakens  or  Retards  Trade-Union  Movement 91 

Would  Entail  Results  more  Serious  than  Evils  it  is  Designed 

to  Cure 94 

Conflict  of   Social   Philosophy   of   Advocates   and    Opponents  of 

Minimum- Wage  Legislation 96 

CHAPTER  VI 
The  Effecbb  of  Minimum-Wage  Legislation 

Effects  of  Minimum-Wage  Legislation  in  Victoria 97 

Abolition  of  Sweating 98 

Effect  upon  Wages  in  Normal  Trades 99 


g                                              CONTENTS  [8 

PAGE 

Relation  of  Minimum  to  Maximum  Wage ioo 

Effect  upon  Employment 104 

Effect  upon  Business  Organization 106 

Effect  upon  Efficiency 107 

Effect  upon  Prices 107 

Competition  Between  Districts  Regulated  and  Districts  Un- 
regulated by  Wage  Legislation 108 

Effect  upon  Trade  Unionism 109 

Summary 109 

Effect  of  Wage  Legislation  in  the  Clothing   Industry   in   Great 

Britain m 

Organization  of  the  Industry in 

Effect  of  Minimum  Wage  Legislation  on  Wages 113 

Tendency  of  the  Minimum  to  Become  the  Maximum 114 

Effect  upon  Trade  Unionism 116 

Effect  upon  Employment 118 

Effect  upon  Business  Organization 119 

Effect  upon  Prices 120 

The  Limited  Value  of  Foreign  Experience  for  America 122 

Effect  of  Minimum-Wage  Legislation  in  Massachusetts 123 

Report  of  Minimum  Wage  Commission 123 

Report  of  Executive  Committee  of  Merchants  and  Manufac- 
turers of  Massachusetts 127 

Inadequacy  of  Evidence 128 

Effect  of  Minimum-Wage  Legislation  in  Oregon 129 

Effect  upon  Wage  Rates 130 

Effect  upon  Actual  Earnings 132 

Effect  upon  Employment 133 

Attitude  of  Employers  Toward  Minimum  Wage  Legislation.  .  135 

Effect  upon  Selling  Efficiency 136 

Effect  upon  Selling  Cost 137 

Summary 139 

Effect  of  Minimum- Wage  Legislation  in  the  State  of  Washington.  140 

Faulty  Method  of  Investigation 140 

Attitude  of  Employers  Toward  the  Law 140 

Attitude  of  Employees  Toward  the  Law 141 

Conclusion 141 

CHAPTER  VII 

Trade  Unionism  and  Women's  Wages 

Attitude  of  Organized  Labor  toward  Minimum-Wage  Legislation.  143 

Development  of  Labor  Organization  among  Women 144 

Obstacles  to  Labor  Organization  among  Women 154 


9]                                            CONTENTS  g 

PAGE 

Difficulty  of  Organizing  Unskilled  Workers 154 

Difficulty  of  Organizing  Temporary  Wage-Earners 156 

Women  not  Accorded  same   Recognition   as    Men   in  Labor 

Field 158 

Opposition  of  Men  to  Admission  of  Women  to  their  Trade 

Unions 161 

Summary  and  Conclusion 162 

CHAPTER  VIII 

Vocational  Education  and  Women's  Wages 

The  Need  of  Vocational  Education 164 

Vocational  Training  for  Girls 165 

Training  in  Home  Economics  for  Wage-earning 167 

Vocational  Opportunity  in  Domestic  Service 168 

Present  Disadvantages  of  Domestic  Service 168 

Training  Classes  for  Houseworkers 170 

Vocational  Training  for  Industrial  Work 170 

Wage  Value  of  Vocational  Training 171 

Special  and  General  Vocational  Education 172 

Importance  of  Vocational  Guidance 173 

Summary  and  Conclusion 174 

CHAPTER  IX 
Conclusion 

No  Single  Measure  Sufficient  to  Raise  Women's  Wages 175 

Value  of  Minimum  Wage  Legislation 175 

Limitations  of  Minimum-Wage  Legislation 175 

The  Problem  of  Irregular  Employment 175 

The  Need  of  Trade  Unionism 178 

The  Need  of  Vocational  Education 179 


INTRODUCTION 

The  increased  employment  of  women  in  industrial  occu- 
pations was  one  of  the  most  striking  economic  effects  of 
the  war.  The  drawing-off  of  thousands  of  men  to  military 
life  required  the  labor  of  a  force  at  least  three  or  four  times 
as  large  to  maintain  them  with  the  necessary  equipment. 
In  England,  this  resulted  in  an  increase  of  about  five  hun- 
dred thousand  women  in  manufacturing  establishments  in 
191 7  over  191 4.  In  the  United  States,  we  do  not  know  at 
the  present  time  the  exact  extent  of  the  industrial  change, 
but  there  was  abundant  evidence  of  an  occupational  read- 
justment similar  to  that  which  England  experienced,  and  if 
the  war  had  continued  for  another  year  we  would  undoubt- 
edly have  seen  a  larger  increase  in  the  number  of  industrial 
women  and  wage-earners. 

The  war,  however,  has  merely  thrown  into  sharp  relief 
one  of  the  changes  that  has  been  going  on  in  the  employ- 
ment of  women  in  the  last  three  decades.  This  may  be  in- 
dicated from  a  comparison,  by  decades  since  1880,  of  the 
increase  of  the  female  population  ten  years  of  age  and  over, 
with  the  increase  in  the  number  gainfully  employed.  Such 
a  comparison  gives  the  following  results : * 

1  The  numbers  from  which  these  percentages  are  derived  are  found 
in  13th  Census,  vol.  iv,  p.  37. 

11]  11 


I2  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [12 

Increase  of  female  Increase  of  female  popu- 

population  10  years  lation  10  years  of  age  and 

of  age  and  over  over,  gainfully  employed 

1890-1880  27.9  50.9 

1900-1890  22.5  32-8 

1910-1900 22.2,  51.8 

These  figures  show  that  there  has  been  not  only  an  enor- 
mous absolute  addition  to  the  number  of  wage-earners,  but 
that  it  has  been  an  increase  out  of  all  proportion  to  the 
growth  of  the  female  population. 

Even  more  striking  than  the  increase  in  the  actual  num- 
bers of  industrial  women  workers  during  the  war  period 
has  been  the  entrance  of  women  into  occupations  hitherto 
carried  on  by  men.  Before  the  war,  men  and  women  sel- 
dom came  into  competition  in  the  same  occupation.  The 
division  and  subdivision  of  processes  and  occupations  re- 
solved themselves  into  men's  work  and  women's  work,  and 
although  the  separation  was  not  always  perfectly  consistent, 
it  was  generally  true  that  men  predominated  in  the  skilled, 
and  women  in  the  unskilled  work.  But  the  war  forced  the 
penetration  of  women  into  hitherto  skilled  work,  or  into 
occupations  traditionally  carried  on  by  men.  Under  the 
pressure  of  military  needs,  restrictive  trade-union  measures 
were  suspended.  Skilled  work  —  by  the  introduction  of 
machinery  and  the  process  of  breaking  up  a  complex  opera- 
tion into  a  number  of  simple  ones — was  largely  eliminated, 
or  brought  within  the  capacity  of  the  untrained  woman. 
Once  women  were  given  a  chance  to  try  them,  certain  kinds 
of  work  which  had  been  considered  above  the  line  of  their 
strength  or  skill  were  carried  on  successfully.  For  other 
semi-skilled  occupations,  short  preliminary  training  courses 
were  arranged.  Their  aim  was  to  give  the  learner  "  ma- 
chine sense,"  and  to  teach  the  use  of  one  or  two  machine 
tools.  The  pressure  of  war  forced  productive  efficiency  to 
the  utmost,  and  it  moved  along  those  lines  which  have  been 


I3]  INTRODUCTION  !3 

made  familiar  in  the  division  and  subdivision  of  occupa- 
tions, the  extension  of  unskilled  types  of  work  and  an  in- 
crease in  the  already  large  proportion  of  unskilled  workers. 

That  the  effects  of  the  war  would  continue  far  beyond  its 
duration  was,  as  the  struggle  was  prolonged  from  year  to 
year,  sufficiently  obvious.  The  loss  of  man  power  easily 
may  compel  the  employment  of  women  in  large  numbers 
for  an  almost  indefinite  period.  Nor  is  it  at  all  likely  that 
when  manufacturers  resume  their  peace-time  activity  the 
effort  to  obtain  efficient  production  will  abate.  We  must 
look  forward,  then,  to  the  continued  importance  of  the  un- 
skilled woman  worker  and  her  labor  problem.  Wages  are  a 
vital  part  of  that  problem.  For  nearly  a  century  the  lowness 
of  women's  wages  has  been  a  theme  of  constant  complaint. 
Women's  wages  are  a  synonym  for  low  wages,  and  hence  the 
employment  of  women  has  come  to  be  regarded  as  a  menace 
to  the  wage  standards  men  have  struggled  to  establish  and  to 
maintain.  Men  have  accepted  the  fact  of  these  low  wages 
as  inevitable,  bound  up  with  conditions  peculiar  to  women 
workers.  Women  themselves  have  accepted  it,  and  only  a 
small  minority  of  them  may  be  said  to  have  developed  any 
wage-earner's  consciousness  and  conception  of  the  role  they 
play  or  should  play  in  the  labor  world. 

Even  before  the  war,  however,  there  were  signs  of 
change.  Among  the  most  conspicuous  were  tire-growth  pf 
trade-unionism  among  women,  the  beginnings  of  a  demand 
for  vocational  education  for  girls,  and,  above  all,  the  rapid 
spread  of  minimum-wage  legislation  for  women  and  minors. 
Along  these  lines,  it  is  the  writer's  belief,  improvement  will 
be  made  in  the  economic  position  of  women  in  the  years 
immediately  ahead. 

As  a  starting-point  for  the  present  discussion  of  these 
measures,  a  statement  has  been  made  of  the  pre-war  level 
of  women's  wages  in  the  United  States  and  of  its  signifi- 


I4  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [14 

cance  in  the  labor  world.  This  statement  sets  forth,  on  a 
basis  of  earnings,  the  status  of  women  as  a  class  of  wage- 
earners  and  leads  to  a  summary  of  those  features  that  dis- 
tinguish their  wage  scale  from  that  of  men.  To  give  more 
definite  meaning  to  the  figures  by  including  real  as  well  as 
money  income,  the  relation  of  wages  to  the  cost  of  living  is 
analyzed.  Since  the  main  discussion  is  concerned  with  the 
wages  of  women  as  a  special  class  of  laborers,  rather  than 
with  the  more  general  subject  of  labor's  share  in  distribu- 
tion, the  analysis  of  the  wage  data  is  followed  by  a  consid- 
eration of  the  factors  that  have  their  peculiar  influence  upon 
the  earnings  of  women.  By  these  means,  the  writer  hopes, 
the  way  has  been  prepared  for  a  helpful  evaluation  of  the 
proposed  remedial  measures  —  minimum-wage  legislation, 
trade-unionism,  and  vocational  education.  The  attention 
that  has  been  given  to  the  first  of  these  measures  reflects 
the  importance  that  is  commonly  attached  to  it.  This  im- 
portance made  it  seem  advisable  to  go  into  it  in  more  detail 
than  in  the  case  of  the  others.  The  chapters  as  a  whole, 
however,  should  make  clear  that  there  is  no  panacea  which 
can  combat  the  influences  that  hold  the  wage  scale  of  women 
to  a  level  far  below  that  of  men  and  far  below  the  cost  of  a 
normal  standard  of  living. 


CHAPTER  I 
The  Wages  of  Industrial  Women 

The  most  detailed  and  comprehensive  data  on  women's 
wages  in  industrial  occupations  appeared  in  the  Federal 
Census  of  Manufactures  of  1905.  According  to  that  re- 
port, of  the  one  million  factory  women  sixteen  years  of 
age  and  over,  about  one-fifth  (18.2)  received  under  four 
dollars  a  week;  one-half  (49.4),  under  six;  and  over  three- 
fourths  (77.6),  under  eight.  Less  than  one-tenth  (8.3) 
earned  over  ten  dollars.  These  figures  represent  the  weekly 
income  for  the  busiest  week  of  the  year  and  are  taken 
directly  from  the  employer's  payroll. 

Different  sections  of  the  country  show  variations  from 
this  general  level.  In  Southern  factories  women  were  paid 
appreciably  less.  About  three-fourths  received  less  than 
six  dollars  a  week  and  over  nine-tenths  received  under  eight. 
On  the  other  hand,  in  the  far  West  a  relatively  large  pro- 
portion are  in  the  higher  wage  classes.  Scarcely  two-thirds 
earned  under  eight  dollars  a  week  and  nearly  one-fifth 
earned  over  ten.  The  North  Atlantic  States,  which  in- 
cluded two-thirds  of  the  total  number  at  work,  showed  about 
the  same  level  of  wages  as  the  country  at  large,  while  the 
North  Central  States  had  a  lower  level,  but  not  so  low  as 
in  the  South. 

The  Census  of  1905  also  reported  earnings  by  states  and 

industries.     In  only  five  of  the  fourteen  states  that  led  in 

the  number  of  women  employed  in  factories  did  less  than 

three-fourths  earn  under  eight  dollars  a  week.     In  only  a 

15]  15 


!5  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [l6 

single  instance,  California,  did  less  than  two-thirds  earn 
under  that  amount.  On  the  other  hand,  the  proportion 
rose  to  over  four-fifths  in  eight  states  and  to  over  nine- 
tenths  in  three,  Maryland,  Indiana,  North  Carolina.  Briefly 
speaking,  from  two-thirds  to  nine-tenths  of  the  women  in 
these  leading  industrial  states  received  less  than  eight  dol- 
lars a  week. 

Taking  another  point  in  the  wage  scale  —  six  dollars  a 
week — it  appears  that  from  one-third  to  over  nine-tenths  of 
the  workers  were  reported  as  earning  less  than  this  amount. 
In  Massachusetts,  where  144,000  women  were  employed, 
one-third  received  less  than  six  dollars,  but  in  New  York. 
Pennsylvania,  Ohio  and  New  Jersey,  which  ranked  next  in 
the  number  of  women  employed,  nearly  one-half  in  New 
York,  and  well  over  that  proportion  in  the  other  states, 
earned  less  than  six  dollars. 

Marked  as  the  proportions  are  in  the  groups  receiving 
under  six  and  eight  dollars,  the  massing  in  the  numbers 
earning  under  four  dollars  is  noteworthy  also.  About  one- 
fifth  of  the  women  in  New  York.  Pennsylvania  and  New 
Jersey,  respectively,  earned  under  that  amount,  and  one- 
fourth  in  Ohio.  Even  in  California,  where  a  relatively  large 
proportion  is  found  in  the  higher-wage  groups,  nearly  fif- 
teen per  cent  received  under  four  dollars  a  week.  Massa- 
chusetts and  Rhode  Island  make  the  best  showing  in  this 
respect,  eight  per  cent  (8.3)  earning  under  four  dollars  in 
the  former  state  and  seven  per  cent  (6.8)  in  the  latter. 

The  figures  by  industries  show  the  same  facts  in  different 
detail.  Wages  were  reported  for  twenty-five  different  lines 
of  manufacture.  In  twelve  of  them,  over  nine-tenths  of  the 
women  were  employed.  With  the  exception  of  the  boot 
and  shoe  industry,  women's  ready-made  clothing,  certain 
branches  of  the  printing  trade,  and  woolen  and  worsted 
manufactures,  four-fifths  of  the  women  engaged  in  each  of 


I7]  THE  WAGES  OF  INDUSTRIAL  WOMEN  iy 

these  twenty-five  industries  received  less  than  eight  dollars  a 
week.  In  the  boot  and  shoe  industry,  which  makes  the  most 
favorable  showing,  fifty-seven  per  cent  received  less  than 
eight  dollars.  As  a  rule  in  these  industries,  over  one-half  the 
women  receive  less  than  six  dollars.  In  only  one  instance — 
again  the  boot  and  shoe  industry — do  as  few  as  one-third 
earn  under  this  amount.  This  industry  also  shows  an  un- 
usual proportion  earning  over  ten  dollars  a  week — twenty- 
three  per  cent.  This  is  nearly  ten  per  cent  higher  than  the 
next  highest  industry  in  the  group,  i.  e.,  women's  ready- 
made  clothing,  where  fourteen  per  cent  earned  over  ten 
dollars  a  week.  With  these  exceptions,  the  numbers  found 
in  the  high-wage  group  are  negligible. 

At  the  other  end  of  the  scale  a  large  proportion  in  certain 
industries  may  be  found.  Of  34,000  tobacco  workers, 
twenty-four  per  cent  (23.7)  received  under  four  dollars  a 
week;  of  13,000  shirt-makers,  twenty-six  (26.1),  and  of 
27,000  workers  on  men's  ready-made  clothing,  nineteen  per 
cent  (18.6),  were  in  this  wage  class.  In  the  making  of 
worsted  goods  which  employed  20,000  women,  as  few  as 
six  per  cent  were  in  this  wage  group,  and  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  woolen  goods  and  in  the  boot  and  shoe  industry  the 
percentage  is  as  low  as  ten.  Even  in  the  making  of  women's 
clothing,  which  is  relatively  a  high-paid  trade,  between 
fourteen  and  fifteen  per  cent  received  under  four  dollars  a 
week. 

The  general  statement  of  wages  given  in  the  Census  of 
Manufactures  of  1905  is  confirmed,  as  the  following  figures 
show,  by  the  data  collected  in  the  Federal  investigation  into 
the  condition  of  women  and  child  wage-earners  during  the 
years  1907-1911. 


Under  $6 

Under  $8 

Over  $10 

494 
49.1 

77-6 

76.8 

8-3 
9.6 

jg  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [18 

Percentage  of  Women  16  Years  of  Age  and  Over  Earning  under 
Specified  Amounts 

Under $4 

Census,  1905  18.2 

Federal  Report 18.5 

In  the  course  of  the  later  investigation,  pay-roll  data  were 
obtained  for  nearly  one  hundred  thousand  women  16  years 
of  age  and  over,  working  in  representative  establishments 
of  twenty-seven  different  industries.  Four  industries  were 
selected  for  special  study — cotton  textiles,  men's  ready- 
made  clothing,  glass,  and  silk.  The  following  figures  show 
the  proportion  of  workers  16  years  of  age  and  over  earn- 
ing under  specified  amounts  in  a  representative  week. 

Under  $4     Under  $6    Under  $8    $10  and  over 
Cotton,  New  England  mills  13.2 
Southern  mills  . . .  32.6 
Men's  ready-made  clothing  20.1 

Glass   8.2 

Silk    22.0 

Here  there  is  the  same  concentration  between  four  dollars 
on  the  one  hand  and  eight  dollars  on  the  other  that  has 
been  pointed  out  in  the  census  report.  Silk  workers  show 
an  unusual  proportion  earning  over  ten  dollars  a  week,  while 
the  percentage  in  this  group  is  insignificant  in  the  southern 
cotton  mills  and  in  the  glass  factories. 

An  examination  of  the  twenty-three  other  industries  less 
intensively  studied  in  the  Federal  investigation  shows,  in 
general,  the  same  situation.  Exceptionally  low  wages  are 
found  in  canning  and  preserving;  unusually  favorable  ones 
in  core-making.  Rarely,  however,  does  the  proportion  earn- 
ing under  eight  dollars  a  week  fall  as  low  as  two-thirds; 
rarely  does  the  proportion  earning  under  six  dollars  fall  as 
low  as  one-third.  In  eleven  of  the  twenty-seven  industries, 
and  including  the  cotton  textile  factories  of  New  England, 


38.0 

67.4 

13-6 

68.0 

92.5 

1-9 

49.0 

7S-i 

12.0 

64.0 

9i-3 

2-5 

45-3 

71. 1 

17.2 

I9]  THE  WAGES  OF  INDUSTRIAL  WOMEN  IO, 

ten  per  cent  or  over  earned  over  ten  dollars  a  week  in  the 
week  reported.  Nearly  one-fifth  of  the  silk  workers  were 
in  this  group.  Usually,  however,  the  proportion  does  not 
rise  above  ten  per  cent,  and  in  fifteen  industries  where  it  is 
under  ten  per  cent  it  is  markedly  so. 

Among  the  later  wage  data  of  the  pre-war  period  there 
are  the  reports  of  state  labor  bureaus  and  special  commis- 
sions of  inquiry  into  women's  wages,  together  with  the 
findings  of  minimum-wage  boards.  New  Jersey,  Kansas, 
Iowa  and  Massachusetts  have  excellent  industrial  statistics 
covering  practically  all  wage-earning  women.  The  reports 
of  special  investigations  into  wages  which  are  the  result  of 
the  minimum-wage  movement  are  more  one-sided  in  charac- 
ter. Limitations  of  time  and  money  for  investigation  have 
forced  in  some  instances  a  selection  of  industries  typical  of 
only  the  lowest  paid  lines  of  work.  In  others,  however, 
although  the  data  are  meagre,  they  are  believed  to  be  repre- 
sentative. 

Ninety-three  thousand  women  were  at  work  in  the  fac- 
tories of  New  Jersey  in  the  busiest  week  of  1913.1  Of  this 
number,  twenty-five  per  cent  earned  under  six  dollars  a 
week,  sixty-one  per  cent  under  eight,  and  nearly  eighteen  per 
cent  received  over  ten  dollars.  There  were  twenty-three 
industries  each  of  which  employed  at  least  1000  women. 
Two  of  them,  the  hat  industry  and  the  silk,  make  an  excep- 
tionally favorable  showing.  The  proportion  earning  under 
eight  dollars  a  week  falls  to  nearly  one-third,  while  in  all 
the  others  it  ranges  from  one-half  to  three-fourths.  In  the 
group  earning  under  six  dollars  a  week,  the  proportion  is 
in  general  much  lower  than  in  the  industries  reported  in  the 
Federal  study.  In  only  one  instance  do  as  many  as  two- 
fifths  receive  less  than  this  amount,  more  frequently  it  is 

1  Bureau    of   Industrial    Statistics    of    New   Jersey.     Thirty-seventh 
Annual  Report,  1914. 


20 


WOMEN'S  WAGES  [20 


one-fifth  or  one-fourth,  and  sometimes  falls  as  low  as  one- 
tenth.  There  is,  however,  a  greater  compression  of  workers 
within  the  group  earning  over  six  and  under  eight  dollars. 
Into  this  group,  as  a  rule,  one-third  or  more  of  the  women  fall. 
In  the  making  of  scientific  instruments,  for  example,  the  only 
industry  where  no  women  received  under  four  dollars  a 
week  and  where  only  ten  per  cent  received  less  than  six 
dollars,  over  one-half  (53  per  cent)  earned  more  than  six 
but  under  eight  dollars.  A  small  proportion  earning  under 
four  dollars  a  week  and  a  large  proportion  (relatively  to 
other  studies)  earning  over  ten  dollars  are  characteristic  of 
the  New  Jersey  data.  Thus  the  state  makes  a  good  show- 
ing at  the  extremes  of  the  wage  scale.  This  is  attended  by 
a  marked  concentration  in  the  six  to  eight-dollar  group. 

Two  other  states  keep  records  similar  to  those  of  New 
Jersey — Iowa  and  Kansas.  In  Iowa,  between  nine  and  ten 
thousand  women  were  employed  in  industrial  establish- 
ments in  191 3. 1  Of  this  number,  twenty-seven  per  cent  re- 
ceived under  six  dollars  in  the  busiest  week  of  the  year; 
sixty-one  per  cent  received  under  eight,  and  seventeen 
per  cent  earned  over  ten.  This  distribution,  it  may  be 
noted,  corresponds  very  closely  to  that  of  New  Jersey.  In 
different  lines  of  work  there  is  a  similar  variation.  The 
proportion  of  women  earning  under  six  dollars  a  week 
ranges  from  six  per  cent  in  canning  and  preserving  to 
forty-eight  per  cent  in  confectionery.  From  two-fifths  to 
four-fifths  earn  under  eight  dollars  a  week.  In  the  high- 
wage  group — those  earning  over  ten  dollars  a  week — the 
proportion  falls  as  low  as  six  per  cent  in  the  candy  trade 
and  rises  to  nearly  one-third  in  tobacco  manufactures  and 
in  printing  and  publishing  establishments.  In  Kansas  in 
1913,  there  were  3600  women  and  girls  at  work  in  fac- 

1  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics  for  the  State,  of  Iowa.  Sixteenth  Bien- 
nial Report,  1912-1913. 


2i  ]  THE  WAGES  OF  INDUSTRIAL  WOMEN  2I 

tories.1  One-third  of  this  number  received  under  six  dol- 
lars in  the  busiest  week  of  the  year;  two-thirds  (67.9)  re- 
ceived under  eight,  and  sixteen  per  cent  (16.1)  received 
over  ten.  In  five  industries  that  led  from  the  standpoint 
of  the  number  of  women  employed,  from  sixty  per  cent  to 
nearly  ninety  per  cent  received  under  eight  dollars  a  week. 
According  to  the  28th  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of 
Statistics  of  Massachusetts  (1913),  ten  per  cent  of  the 
women  employed  in  industrial  establishments  during  the 
week  of  greatest  employment  received  under  six  dollars, 
forty  per  cent  received  under  eight,  and  thirty  per  cent  re- 
ceived ten  dollars  or  over.  In  the  boot  and  shoe  industry, 
which  is  one  of  the  best  paid  for  women,  twenty  per  cent 
of  the  adult  women  employed  during  the  busiest  week  of 
the  year  received  less  than  eight  dollars.  In  the  cotton 
textile  industry,  which  employs  the  largest  number  of 
women,  approximately  thirty-eight  per  cent  fall  in  this  wage 
group.  In  the  manufacture  of  woolen  and  worsted  goods — 
another  large  field  for  women's  work — over  forty  per  cent 
received  under  eight  dollars.  In  the  making  of  hosiery  and 
knit  goods,  forty-six  per  cent  of  over  7000  adult  women; 
in  the  making  of  women's  clothing,  thirty-five  per  cent  of 
5700;  and  in  the  making  of  confectionery,  seventy-one  per 
cent  of  4800  women,  received  less  than  eight  dollars.  Thus, 
in  the  six  leading  industries  for  women  in  Massachusetts 
during  a  full  working  week,  from  twenty  to  over  seventy  per 
cent  of  the  adult  employed  women  earned  less  than  eight 
dollars  a  week.  These  figures  stand  in  a  special  class,  since 
in  Massachusetts  the  industrial  statistics  distinguish  between 
workers  over  and  under  eighteen  years  of  age  instead  of 
sixteen,  as  is  customary  in  other  wage  statistics.  The  num- 
ber of  young  persons  in  this  two-year  period  modifies  the 

1  State  of  Kansas,  Department  of  Labor  and  Industry.     Twenty-ninth 
Annual  Report,  1913. 


22 


WOMEN'S  W AGES  [22 


results,  so  they  cannot  be  compared  with  those  of  other 
states.  At  the  same  time,  the  older  age  of  the  group  gives 
increased  significance  to  the  general  level  of  earnings,  and 
they  are  for  that  reason  included  here. 

The  report  on  wages  made  by  investigating  commis- 
sions, though  somewhat  incomplete,  as  has  been  indicated, 
confirm  the  findings  of  official  labor  bureaus.  In  Connec- 
ticut, a  commission  appointed  to  inquire  into  women's  wages 
in  1 9 11  reported  that  of  4500  women  in  the  leading  indus- 
tries for  women  (corsets,  rubber  and  metal  workers,  cotton 
textiles)  forty-one  per  cent  (41.5)  earned  under  six  dol- 
lars and  sixty-seven  per  cent  (66.8)  earned  under  eight.1 
In  Michigan,  the  State  Commission  of  Inquiry  reported  in 
191 5  that  according  to  returns  received  from  employers 
from  all  over  the  state,  over  one-half  (52.8)  of  the  women 
employed — and  there  were  34,000 — received  under  eight 
dollars  a  week.  Over  one-fifth  (22.1)  received  less  than 
six.2  In  a  study  of  some  four  hundred  representative  fac- 
tory workers  in  Portland,  Oregon,  nearly  one-half  (48.1) 
received  under  eight  dollars  a  week.3  Again,  in  the  first 
and  second-class  cities  of  Minnesota  about  one-half  (53.8) 
of  the  factory  women  earned  under  eight  dollars,  and  a 
little  over  one- fourth  of  them  (25.2)  earned  less  than  six 
dollars  a  week.  According  to  the  wages  prevailing  between 
May  and  September,  19 14,  in  Minneapolis,  St.  Paul  and 
Duluth,  over  forty  per  cent  of  the  women  employed  (8377) 
in  manufactures  received  under  eight  dollars.4 

1  State  of  Connecticut.  Report  of  the  Special  Commission  to  In- 
vestigate the  Conditions  of  Wage-earning  Women  and  Minors  in  the 
State. 

2  Report  of  the  State  Commission  of  Inquiry,  Michigan,  1915. 

3  Report  of  the  Social  Survey  Committee  of  the  Consumers'  League 
of  Oregon,  Portland,  1913. 

*  Minnesota  Welfare  Commission.  First  Biennial  Report  1913-1914, 
p.  9,  et  seq. 


23]  THE  WAGES  OF  INDUSTRIAL  WOMEN  03 

In  the  state  of  Washington  there  is  a  better  showing,  with 
thirty-eight  per  cent  (38.3)  of  1700  representative  factory 
workers  receiving  less  than  eight  dollars  and  only  ten  per 
cent  receiving  less  than  six.  In  California,  inquiries  were 
made  by  the  Industrial  Welfare  Commission  into  twelve 
different  lines  of  manufacture  in  five  principal  industrial 
centers — San  Francisco,  Los  Angeles,  Oakland,  Sacramento 
and  San  Diego.  Of  nearly  3000  adult  women  employed  in 
the  six  most  important  lines  of  manufacture,  forty  per  cent 
earned  less  than  eight  dollars.  This  is  a  slightly  worse 
showing  for  the  same  period  than  is  made  in  the  Report  of 
the  State  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics.  According  to  the 
latter,  of  7800  adult  women  employed  in  some  1500  manu- 
facturing establishments,  a  little  over  thirty-six  per  cent  re- 
ceived under  eight  dollars  a  week. 

As  a  last  source  of  wage  data,  let  us  turn  to  the  reports 
of  the  New  York  State  Factory  Investigating  Commission 
and  the  Massachusetts  Minimum  Wage  Commission.  In 
New  York  three  typically  low-paid  industries  were  investi- 
gated— paper  box  manufacturing,  candy  manufacturing  and 
shirt  making.  Actual  weekly  earnings  of  6974  employees 
over  16  years  of  age  in  box  factories  in  New  York  City 
and  in  up-state  establishments  were  obtained  for  a  week  in 
the  busy  season.  From  these  earnings  it  appears  that  nearly 
two-thirds  of  those  employed  in  New  York  City  earned 
less  than  eight  dollars,  and  nearly  seven-tenths  (69.7)  of 
those  in  the  smaller  cities  earned  less  than  eight  dollars. 
Over  a  third  in  New  York  City  and  four-tenths  in  other 
cities  earned  less  than  six  dollars.  In  the  confectionery 
trade,  of  4541  workers  in  New  York  City,  eighty  per  cent 
earned  less  than  eight  dollars  in  an  active  business  week 
and  over  one-half  earned  less  than  six  dollars.  In  the  other 
cities  investigated,  business  was  slack.  Of  some  600  work- 
ers, fifty-six  per  cent  received  under  six,  and  eighty-one  per 


24  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [24 

cent  under  eight  dollars.  In  the  men's  shirt  industry,  seventy 
per  cent  of  the  women  (4452)  in  New  York  City  made  less 
than  eight  dollars  and  forty  per  cent  less  than  six.  Outside 
the  city,  sixty  per  cent  made  less  than  eight  and  thirty-six 
per  cent  less  than  six  dollars.  In  contrast  to  the  other  in- 
dustries studied,  the  shirt  industry  was  passing  through  an 
unusually  dull  season  at  the  time  the  wage  figures  were 
taken. 

The  data  given  by  the  Massachusetts  Minimum  Wage 
Commission  up  to  191 5  provide  wage  statistics  for  five 
different  lines  of  manufacture.  These  figures  refer  to  aver- 
age annual  wages  and  are  much  more  representative  of 
normal  conditions  than  the  New  York  data,  which  are 
based  on  the  earnings  of  a  single  week.1  They  show  that  in 
the  brush  industry  nearly  nine-tenths  (88.17)  of  the  work- 
ers received  less  than  eight  dollars  a  week.  In  the  corset 
factories,  nearly  seven-tenths  (68.7),  and  in  paper-box 
making,  about  three- fourths  earned  under  that  amount.  In 
the  candy  trade,  nearly  ninety-two  per  cent,  and  in  the 
making  of  women's  ready-made  clothing,  seventy-eight  per 
cent  were  in  the  same  wage  group. 

The  proportion  earning  under  six  dollars  ranged  from 
thirty-five  per  cent  in  the  making  of  corsets  to  nearly  sev- 
enty per  cent  in  the  candy  trade.  In  the  latter  nearly  one- 
fourth  earned  under  four  dollars  a  week.  In  brush,  clothing, 
and  in  paper  box  factories,  about  fifteen  per  cent  of  the  re- 
spective numbers  employed  earned  less  than  four  dollars. 
In  the  making  of  corsets,  which  is  relatively  a  well-paid  in- 
dustry, ten  per  cent  (9.6)  failed  to  average  four  dollars  a 
week  during  the  period  of  employment. 

Summarizing  all  these  data  gathered  from  various 
sources,  it  may  be  said  that  the  wages  of  industrial  women 

1  The  earnings  of  each  worker  were  taken  for  a  52-week  period  and 
divided  by  the  number  of  weeks  she  was  employed. 


'5] 


THE  WAGES  OF  INDUSTRIAL  WOMEN 


are  compressed  within  a  narrow  range  of  from  four  to 
eight  dollars  a  week.  Occasionally  a  woman  earns  over 
ten  dollars.  More  frequently  she  earns  less  than  four.  She 
who  may  be  regarded  as  the  typical  worker  receives  five, 
six  or  seven  dollars  in  a  normal  working  week. 

How  sharply  this  wage  scale  marks  women  as  the  low- 
paid  class  of  industrial  workers  is  shown  in  a  comparison 
with  that  of  men.  This  comparison,  it  should  be  clear,  is 
not  made  with  any  invidious  intent.  It  is  used  merely  as 
the  most  helpful  way  of  orienting  the  wages  of  women  as  a 
class  of  workers.  The  figures  following  show  the  general 
distribution  of  men  and  women  16  years  of  age  and  over 
according  to  weekly  earnings.  ( See  table,  page  26. )  Two 
points  stand  out  clearly,  first,  the  marked  concentration 
of  women  in  the  low-wage  classes  in  contrast  to  the 
concentration  of  men  in  the  upper-wage  classes.  Over 
three-fourths  (77.9)  of  the  women  received  less  than  eight 
dollars  a  week,  while  almost  three-fourths  of  the  men 
(74.5)  received  more  than  that  amount.  Eighteen  per  cent 
of  the  women  received  less  than  $4  a  week  and  but  four 
per  cent  of  the  men.  Second,  there  is  the  noticeably  wider 
range  of  earnings.  Beginning  at  "  less  than  $3."  the  range 
of  men's  earnings  extends  to  "  $25  and  over  " ;  the  range 
of  women's  stops  at  the  "  $12  to  $15  "  wage  group.  Only 
one  per  cent  of  the  women  are  found  in  the  higher  wage 
groups. 


26 


WOMEN'S  WAGES 


[26 


United  States — Summary  of  Men  and  Women  by  Classified  Weekly 
Earnings  with  Percentage  at  each  Amount  :  1905  * 


Weekly 
Earnings. 


Total 

Less  than  $3 

$3  to  $4 
$4  to  $5 
$S  to  #6 
#6  to  $7 
#7  to  #8 
#8  to  $9 
$9  to  $10 

#IO  to  $12 

$12  to  $15 

$15  to  $20 

$20  to  $25 
$25  and  over 


Earnings  for  the 
specified  week; 

Total 

Average  per 
wage-earner  . . . 


Men  10  years  and  over. 


Number, 


2,619,053 


56046 
57.597 
87,739 
103,429 
161,940 
196,981 
207,954 
343,8i2 
409,4831 
450,568, 

385,647; 
106,046 

5'»5" 


Percent- 
age in  the 
group. 


1 00.0 


2.2 
2.2 

3-4 

4.0 

6.2 

7-5 

7-9 

13.1 

15.6 

17.2 

14.7 
4.0 
2.0 


Cumula- 
tive per- 
centage. 


1 00.0 
97-8 
95-6 
92.2 
88.2 
82.0 

74-5 
66.6 

53-5 

37-9 

20.7 

6.0 

2.0 


$29,240,287 
$11.16 


Women  16  years  and  over. 


Number, 


588,599 


43,858 
64,170 
88,657 
95,674 
97,3" 
68,192 

47, J  7° 
34,050 

29,633 
14,294 

4,7*9 
654 
217 


Percent- 

Cumula- 

age in  the 

tive  per- 

group. 

centage. 

100.0 

.... 

7-5 

1 00.0 

10.9 

92.5 

lS-* 

81.6 

16.3 

66.5 

16.5 

50.2 

11.6 

33-7 

8.0 

22.1 

5.8 

14.1 

<;.o 

8-3 

2.4 

3-3 

0.8 

0.9 

O.I 

O.I 

CO 

(2) 

£3,633.481 
$6.17 


Yet  another  set  of  figures  affords  a  comparison  by  means 
of  median  groups  and  average  weekly  earnings  in  twenty- 
five  selected  industries : 


1  Census  of  Manufactures,  1905:  Bulletin  no.  93,  p.  11. 

2  Less  than  one-tenth  of  one  per  cent. 


27] 


THE  WAGES  OF  INDUSTRIAL  WOMEN 


27 


Median  Groups  and  Average  Weekly  Earnings  of  Men  and  Women 
in  Twenty-five  Selected  Industries  :   1905  1 


Industry. 


Median  groups  and  average  weekly 
earnings. 


Men  16  years  and 
over. 


Median 
group  of 
earnings. 


All  industries $10  to  $12 

Twenty-five  selected  industries. 
Agricultural  implements 


10  to   12 


Boots  and  shoes. 
Carriages  and  wagons. 
Clothing,  men's  — 
Clothing,  women's.  •  •  • 


Women  16  years 
and  over. 


Average     Median    Average 

weekly     group  of     weekly 

earnings,  earnings,  earnings. 


$11.16!  $6  to  $y 


6  to  7 


Cotton  goods 

Electrical   machinery,  apparatus,  and 

supplies 

Foundry  and  machine-shop  products .  • 

Furniture 

Glass 


Hosiery  and  knit  goods 

Iron  and  steel,  blast  furnaces 

Iron  and  steel,  steel  works  and  rolling 
mills 

Leather,  tanned,  curried,  and  finished . 
Lumber  and  timber  products 


Lumber,  planing-mill  products,  includ- 
ing sash,  doors,  and  blinds 

Paper  and  wood  pulp 

Pottery,  terra  cotta,  and  fire  clay  pro- 
ducts   

Printing  and  publishing,  book  and  job. 

Printing  and  publishing,  newspapers 
and  periodicals 


Shirts 

Silk  and  silk  goods 

Tobacco,  cigars  and  cigarettes 

Woolen  goods 

Worsted  goods 


10  to  12 
10  to  12 
10  to  12 
10  to  12 
12  to  15 

7  to    8 
10  to  12 

IO  tO  12 

9  to  10 

IO  tO  12 

8  to    9 

IO  tO  12 
IO  tO   12 

9  to  10 
9  to  10 


IO  tO    12 

9  to  10 
9  to  ioj 

12  tO  I51 
12  tO  15 

9  to  io| 

IO  to  12 

IO  to  12 

9    tO     IO; 

9  to  10 


10.97! 

11.88 

10.83! 
12.23; 

13-52 

7-7* 


5  to  6 
7  to  8 

5  to  6 

6  to  7 
6  to  7 


10.85 

11.88 
10.16 

6  to  7 
5  to  6 
5  to  6| 

14.10 

4  to  5; 

8.90 
11.71 

6  to  7 
5106; 

12.56 
9.90 
9.25 

5  to  6 
5  to  6 
5  to  6; 

11. 15 
10.64 

5  to  6 

6  to  7 

10.87 
12.94 

5  to  6 

6  to  7 

13-13 

5  to  6 

10.20 

10.57 

11. 14 

9.29 

9.83 

5  to  6 
5  to  6 

5  to  6 

6  to  7 
6  to  7 

56^17 

6-3° 

5-75 
7.60 

5-85 
6.07 
6.85 


6  to  7;         6.03 


6.37 

5-83 
5-53 
5.08 

6.01 

5.00 

5-95 
5.68 
5.22 


5.18 
5-85 

5-69 
6-54 

5-95 

5-69 
6.1 1 

5-97 
6.91 
6.78 


1  Census  of  Manufactures,  1905 ;  op.  cit.,  p.  17. 


28 


WOMEN'S  WAGES 


[28 


The  above  figures  show  that  in  the  industries  as  a  whole., 
fifty  per  cent  of  the  men  earned  ten  dollars  or  more  a  week 
while  fifty  per  cent  of  the  women  earned  but  six  dollars  or 
more.  The  average  weekly  earnings  for  men  amounted  to 
$11.16  a  week,  for  women  $6.17 — a  difference  of  fifty-five 
per  cent  in  favor  of  the  men.  In  the  boot  and  shoe  indus- 
try, where  women's  average  earnings  were  the  highest,  they 
were  $4.28  less  than  the  average  for  men.  In  the  cotton 
textiles,  where  the  wages  of  men  and  women  most  closely 
approximate  equality,  the  average  weekly  earnings  of  men, 
$7.71,  exceeded  those  of  women  by  $1.68. 

Data  furnished  by  the  Federal  Report  on  the  Condition 
of  Woman  and  Child  Wage-Earners  make  possible  a  more 
refined  comparison,  in  that  male  employes  were  included 
only  when  working  in  the  same  occupations  as  women  and 
girls.  It  should  be  noted  that  the  figures  for  men  refer  to 
a  relatively  small  number.  The  general  distribution  of  men 
and  women  in  the  New  England  cotton  mills  at  selected 
points  in  the  wage  scale  was  as  follows : a 


Males. 

Age  Classes. 

Empl 

oyees. 

Per  cent  of  total  in  age  group 
earning — 

Number. 

Per  cent 
in  age 
group. 

10.5 
89-5 

Under 
$4- 

Under 

$6. 

Under 
$8. 

Under 
$10. 

16  years  and  over... 

765 
6,492 

3i-i 

13-4 

77.0 
32.0 

95.6 

54-3 

99.2 
71.8 

Total 

7,257 

100.0 

15-3 

36.8 

44.9 

74-7 

1  Report    on   the   Condition    of    Woman   and    Child    Wage   Earners, 
61st  Cong.,  2d  Ses.,  Senate  Document,  no.  645,  vol.  xviii,  p.  20. 


29] 


THE  WAGES  OF  INDUSTRIAL  WOMEN 


29 


Females. 

Age  Classes. 

Employees. 

Per  cent  of  total  in  age  group 
earning — 

Number. 

Per  cent 
in  age 
group. 

Under 
$4. 

Under 

$6. 

Under 

#8. 

Under 
$10. 

Under  16  years.   . . . 
16  years  and  over. . . 

841 

13.744 

5.8 
94.2 

38.5 
13.2 

14.7 

77-i 
38.0 

95-8 
67.4 

99.2 
86.4 

Total 

14.585 

1 00.0 

40.2 

69.0 

87.1 

The  figures  show  that  starting  with  the  same  proportion 
of  the  sexes  earning  under  four  dollars  a  week,  the  men 
gradually  gain  on  the  women  until  in  the  group  earning 
over  ten  dollars  a  week  there  are  nearly  fifteen  per  cent 
more  men  than  women.  The  same  fact  is  shown  in  a  little 
more  detail  in  the  following  table,  shown  on  page  30.  Here 
it  is  apparent  that  up  to  21  years  of  age,  although  women 
earn  less  than  men,  the  difference  is  not  as  marked  as  it  is 
after  that  age. 

Reduced  to  an  hourly  basis,  the  earnings  of  women  in 
six  selected  occupations  in  the  New  England  mills  show  a 
lower  level  in  all  but  one,  that  of  ringspinning.  As  ring- 
spinners,  women  16  years  of  age  and  over,  earn  on  the 
average  one  cent  more  an  hour  than  men;  and  in  Rhode 
Island  mills,  where  a  very  fine  grade  of  work  is  done,  they 
earn  over  two  and  one-half  cents  more  an  hour  than  men. 
Since  the  rates  offered  are  the  same  for  men  and  women, 
the  superiority  of  women  for  this  kind  of  work  is  indicated 
by  the  difference  in  earnings.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
greater  nimbleness  of  their  fingers  makes  them  better  adapted 
than  men  for  this  kind  of  work.     It  should  be  remembered. 


3° 


WOMEN'S  WAGES 


[30 


Per  Cent  of  Employees  Earning  Classified  Amounts  in  a  Repre- 
sentative Week  in  Cotton  Mills  Investigated  in  New 
England,  by  Sex  and  Age  1 


Classified  weekly 
earnings. 


Under  $2  • . . 
$2  to  $2.99.. 
$3  to $3.99.. 
$4  to  $4.99 . . 
$5  toK99-- 
$6  to  £6.99.. 
$7  to  $7.99.. 
$8  to #8.99.. 
$9  to  $9.99.. 
$10  to  $10.99 
$11  to  $11.99 
$12  and  over 

Total... 


16  and 

7  years. 

18  to  20 

years. 

M. 

F. 

M. 

F. 

4-9 

4.8 

44 

2.8 

7-3 

5-3 

4.4 

3-8 

11.0 

13-5 

10.4 

9.0 

15.0 

17.4 

8.7 

10.8 

21.8 

20.6 

17.2 

16.1 

16.8 

17.0 

17.4 

19.0 

12.8 

9.4 

1 1.9 

15.1 

3-5 

5.8 

6.7 

9-3 

4.4 

3-i 

6.8 

7-i 

i-5 

1.9 

4.8 

4.1  | 

•5 

•7 

3-5 

*-5 

•5 

•4 

3-8 

1.4 

100.0 

1 00.0 

1 00.0 

1 00.0 

21  years  and  over. 


M. 


3-2 
3-o 
4.2 

5-8 
7-7 
9.8 

9-5 

9-5 

10.7 

1 0.0 

9-4 
17.2 


2.4 

2-5 

5-7 

9.1 

12.7 

14.0 

14.4 

10.9 

10.7 

8.0 

4.6 

5-o 


however,  that  comparatively  few  men  are  found  in  this 
occupation.  In  so  far  as  they  engage  at  all  in  the  spinning 
process,  they  concentrate  in  mule-spinning — a  different  type 
of  work,  one  which  they  completely  monopolize  (chiefly  be- 
cause the  mule  is  a  very  complicated  machine  and  requires 
considerable  mechanical  skill  to  keep  it  rightly  adjusted), 
and  one  in  which  the  earnings  are  higher  than  in  ring- 
spinning. 

A  further  comparison  of  hourly  earnings  of  men  and 
women  in  cotton  mills  in  Massachusetts  shows  the  propor- 
tion that  women's  wages  form  of  men's  at  different  ages 
and  at  different  points  in  the  wage  scale : 


1  Report  on  the  Condition,  etc.,  vol.  i,  p.  307. 


3i] 


THE  WAGES  OF  INDUSTRIAL  WOMEN 


31 


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32  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [32 

From  the  preceding  table,  it  is  evident  that  (1)  women 
reach  their  maximum  earning  capacity  at  an  earlier  age 
than  men;  (2)  at  the  age  of  20  their  earnings  begin  clearly 
to  lag  behind  those  of  men;  (3)  when  their  wages  are 
at  a  maximum  they  are  nearly  fifteen  per  cent  less. 

The  same  general  points  that  have  been  made  above  are 
brought  out  in  the  inquiry  into  the  men's  ready-made  cloth- 
ing industry  in  Chicago,  Rochester,  and  New  York.  In  this 
industry,  also,  the  range  of  wages  is  wider  for  men  than  for 
women;  the  earnings  of  women  are  far  lower.  In  every 
city  except  Chicago  more  than  half  of  the  women  were 
earning  $4  or  less,  whereas  half  of  the  men  earned  $7  or 
less.  In  Rochester,  one-third  of  the  women  earned  $8  or 
more  against  four-fifths  of  the  men.  In  New  York,  one- 
third  of  the  women  earned  more  than  $7  as  compared  with 
over  three-fourths  of  the  men.  In  Chicago,  where  the  earn- 
ings of  men  and  women  more  closely  approach,  nearly  one- 
half  (46.7)  of  the  women  as  compared  with  nearly  two- 
thirds  (64.5)  of  the  men  receive  $7  or  over.  Finally,  the 
proportion  that  women's  wages  form  of  men's  varies  con- 
siderably— from  fifty-seven  per  cent  in  New  York  to  sixty- 
nine  per  cent  in  Chicago. 

Further  evidence  on  the  earnings  of  men  and  women  as 
found  in  the  silk  industry  is  presented  in  the  following 
table : 


33] 


THE  WAGES  OF  INDUSTRIAL  WOMEN 


33 


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34  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [34 

In  New  Jersey — with  the  exception  of  the  seventeen-year- 
old  group,  when  girls  earn  a  little  more  than  boys — men 
uniformly  earn  more.  At  the  age  of  eighteen  and  after- 
wards men  earn  more  than  women  and  their  earnings  in- 
crease at  a  more  rapid  rate.  In  the  Pennsylvania  mills  the 
comparison  is  even  less  favorable  to  women. 

Since  very  few  men  are  engaged  in  the  same  occupations 
as  women,  the  wage  data  from  the  Report  refer  to  only  a 
relatively  small  number  of  the  total  employed  in  the  several 
industries.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  men  and  women  rarely 
enter  into  direct  competition  with  each  other  in  comparable 
numbers.  Where  this  competition  occurs,  it  usually  results 
in  one  or  the  other  sex  pre-empting  the  occupation.  If 
women  displace  men.  they  usually  work  for  lower  wages 
than  the  men  received.  Or  if — as  occasionally  happens — 
they  receive  the  same  wage,  it  is  because  it  has  been  found 
that  the  men  whose  places  they  take  have  been  able  to  get 
better-paying  positions  elsewhere. 

The  conclusion  is  plain  that  their  wage  scale  marks 
women  as  a  distinct  class  of  workers.  As  adult  workers 
their  earnings  always  fall  short  of  men's  in  the  same  age 
groups  and  finally  their  range  of  earnings  is  conspicuously 
more  limited. 


CHAPTER  II 
Wages  and  the  Cost  of  Living 

The  relation  of  wages  to  the  cost  of  living  is  perhaps  the 
most  critical  test  to  which  they  can  be  subjected.  When 
earnings  fall  below  the  sum  required  to  maintain  a  reason- 
able standard  of  life,  every  one  will  agree  that  the  situation 
calls  for  some  kind  of  remedial  action.  We  have  adopted 
the  phrase  "  normal  standard  of  living "  to  express  the 
irreducible  minimum  of  requirements  for  physical,  mental, 
and  moral  well-being.  Anything  less  than  the  normal  stand- 
ard means  lack  of  provision  for  simple,  ordinary  human 
needs.  For  some  years  now  the  test  has  been  made  through 
the  study  of  family  budgets.  These  indicated  the  extent  to 
which  male  wage-earners  were  able  to  provide  for  their  de- 
pendent wives  and  children.  As  a  result  of  the  minimum- 
wage  movement,  the  same  method  of  the  budget  has  been 
applied  in  the  field  of  individual  expenditure  among  wage- 
earning  women. 

The  cost  of  a  normal  standard  of  living  for  industrial 
women  has  been  estimated  by  minimum  wage  boards  and  by 
minimum  wage  commissions,  and  wage  decrees  have  been 
issued  on  this  basis  in  Massachusetts,  Washington,  Oregon 
and  Minnesota.  Similar  estimates  have  been  made  by  in- 
vestigating commissions  in  other  states,  but  with  the  ex- 
ception of  New  York  they  have  not  observed  the  same 
rigid  methods  of  inquiry  that  have  been  imposed  by  the 
consideration  of  a  practical  application  of  their  findings. 
The  Minimum  Wage  Board  for  the  brush  industry  in 
351  35 


36 


WOMEN'S  WAGES 


[36 


Massachusetts  estimated  in  1914  that  $8.71  per  week  was  the 
minimum  sum  necessary  for  decent  self-support  of  factory 
workers.  In  the  state  of  Washington  it  was  $8.90;  in 
Oregon,  $8.64  for  factory  workers  in  Portland,  and  $8.25 
elsewhere;  in  Minnesota,  $8.75  in  first-class  cities,  $8.25  in 
second,  third  and  fourth-class  cities,  and  $8  elsewhere.  The 
following  figures  show  the  itemized  cost-of-living  budgets 
for  five  trades  investigated  in  Massachusetts  up  to  the  spring 
of  1917. 

Massachusetts  Minimum  Wage  Commission,  Itemized  Cost  of 
Living  Budgets,  As  Voted  on  by  Massachusetts  Wage  Boards  l 


Men's 
Clothing 

Board 
(Spring, 

1917). 


Board  and  lodging 

Clothing  

Laundry  

Car  fares 

Doctor  and  dentist 

Church 

Newspapers  and  magazines. 

Vacation 

Recreation  

Savings 

Incidentals 

Organization  dues  

Insurance 

Self-improvement  

Total 


Women's 

Brush 

Candy 

Laundry 

Clothing 

Board 

Board 

Board 

Board 

(January, 

(Summer, 

(Winter, 

(Spring, 

1914). 

1914). 

I9I5)- 

1916). 

$5   25 

$5  25 

$5  25 

$5  75 

I   44 

1  50 

1  50 

1  50 

50 

45 

5° 

25 

70 

60 

60 

10 

20 

25 

25 

25 

10 

II 

11 

10 

16 

II 

16 

18 

19 

20 

20 

25 

17 

20 

20 

25 
25 
10 

— 

— 

— 

— 

$8  71 

$8  67 

$S  77 

$8  98 

$5  5o 
1  90 

35 

40 

25 
10 

15 
25 
25 
50 
20 

15 


$10  00 


In  order  to  get  a  clear  idea  of  the  meaning  of  these  esti- 
mates and  of  their  soundness  we  must  examine  the  method 
by  which  they  have  been  reached.     The  first  point  in  the 

1  $8.75  was  voted  unanimously  by  the  Candy  Makers'  Wage  Board 
from  the  above  budget  as  the  necessary  cost  of  living,  allowing  8  cents 
extra  for  miscellaneous  requirements. 


37]  WAGES  AND  THE  COST  OF  LIVING  37 

inquiry  concerns  the  items  to  be  included  in  the  budget. 
The  absolute  essentials  of  decent  self-support  as  laid  down 
by  the  Massachusetts  Minimum  Wage  Commission  for  the 
Brush  Makers'  Wage  Board  are  respectable  lodging,  three 
meals  a  day,  suitable  clothing,  some  provision  for  recrea- 
tion, self-improvement  and  care  of  health.  In  making  up 
the  actual  budget,  the  Board  added  laundry  to  these  items 
and  indicated  that  a  true  living  wage  should  provide  also 
for  savings  and  insurance.  The  Industrial  Welfare  Com- 
missions of  Oregon  and  Washington  and  the  Minimum 
Wage  Commission  of  Minnesota  include  the  same  general 
items  in  the  essentials  of  decent  livelihood.  But  their  de- 
crees were  based  on  estimates  of  the  cost  of  living  which 
included  important  additional  provision  for  association  dues 
and  insurance.  For  example,  the  living  wage  fixed  by  the 
Washington  Commission  provided  specifically  for  food, 
clothing,  shelter,  laundry,  medicine  and  dentistry,  street-car 
fare,  newspapers  and  magazines,  stationery  and  postage, 
association  dues,  insurance,  vacation  expenses,  amusements, 
church  and  other  contributions,  and  incidentals. 

Not  without  a  challenge  of  some  of  the  items  has  the 
adoption  been  effected  of  this  and  similar  budgets.  There 
are  those  who  think  the  use  of  the  public  library  should 
eliminate  provision  for  reading  matter.  One  employer  in 
Washington  would  include  no  amount  for  church  dues  be- 
cause he  did  not  believe  "  in  taking  church  money  from  a 
working  girl."  Contributions  to  club,  lodge,  trade  union, 
or  Young  Women's  Christian  Association  are  likely  to  be 
approved  or  frowned  upon  according  to  the  personal  equa- 
tion. Allowance  for  savings  or  insurance  invariably  raises 
a  discussion.  There  is  also  some  difference  of  opinion  as  to 
the  necessity  of  paying  for  recreation  apart  from  that  fur- 
nished by  the  social  activities  of  church  or  lodge  or  free 
public  recreation  center.     All  these  items  have  been,   for 


^8  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [38 

reasons  more  or  less  temperamental,  disputed  now  here, 
now  there.  On  the  evidence  of  the  wide  inquiry  in  the 
states  where  legislation  has  been  enacted  or  proposed,  how- 
ever, the  concept  of  a  decent  livelihood,  as  expressed  for 
example  in  the  Washington  budget,  is  a  concept  that  can  be 
defended  in  every  item.  Workingwomen  and  their  em- 
ployers and  representatives  of  the  public  have  approved  it 
as  reasonable  and  desirable,  even  when  it  has  not  been 
deemed  expedient  to  include  all  its  items  in  fixing  a  mini- 
mum wage.  This  has  been  indicated  above  in  the  opinion 
of  the  Brush  Workers'  Board  that  the  wage  they  fixed  was 
not  a  true  living  wage,  since  it  made  no  allowance  for  sav- 
ings or  insurance.  A  wage  which  is  insufficient  to  allow  any 
provision  for  the  future,  or  for  any  of  the  emergencies  of 
sickness  or  unemployment  that  can  be  counted  upon  with  a 
large  degree  of  certainty  by  the  average  working  girl,  can 
hardly  be  called  a  living  wage.  Decent  livelihood  must  in- 
clude something  more  than  the  satisfaction  of  the  elemen- 
tary wants  of  food,  clothing  and  shelter.  It  must  also  pro- 
vide for  those  intellectual,  social  and  spiritual  needs  com- 
mon to  normal  human  beings.  Finally,  it  must  offer  some 
safeguard  against  "  rainy  days  ",  some  surplus  that  will 
protect  against  borrowing  or  slipping  into  a  condition  of 
dependency. 

The  problem  of  interpreting  the  items  of  decent  living 
and  putting  them  in  terms  of  dollars  and  cents  is  one  on 
which  wage  boards  and  commissions  have  spent  much  of 
their  time.  What  is  respectable  lodging?  What  is  suitable 
clothing?  What  an  efficient  dietary?  Each  item  becomes 
a  subject  of  controversy.  Moreover,  wage-earning  women 
represent  a  variety  of  needs  and  obligations.  A  minority  of 
them  are  dependent  entirely  upon  their  own  efforts  for  sup- 
port. In  some  localities,  however,  this  is  a  considerable 
number.     A  few  support  not  only  themselves  but  others. 


39]  WAGES  AND  THE  COST  OF  LIVING  39 

The  majority  live  at  home — a  situation  generally  supposed 
to  have  a  certain  economic  advantage.  Should  allowances 
be  made  for  differences  in  these  respects?  They  vary  in 
age.  Some  spend  their  money  wisely,  others  foolishly  and 
wastefully.  What  is  a  necessity  to  one  seems  extravagance 
to  another.  These  and  similar  considerations  form  a  maze 
of  circumstances  from  which  a  single  estimate  must  be  de- 
rived.    What  should  this  single  estimate  be? 

The  first  group  to  take  up  the  problem  was  the  Brush 
Makers'  Wage  Board  appointed  after  the  investigation  of 
the  brush  industry  by  the  Massachusetts  Minimum  Wage 
Commission  in  1913.1  The  board  was  made  up  of  fifteen 
members,  six  representing  manufacturers,  six  representing 
workers  and  three  representing  the  public.  The  fact  that 
the  workers  in  only  a  single  industry  were  involved  simpli- 
fied their  task  to  that  extent.  At  the  outset  the  board 
assumed  the  case  to  be  that  of  the  individual  woman  de- 
pendent entirely  upon  her  own  efforts  and  living  away  from 
home  in  a  lodging  house.  For  such  a  woman,  what  sum 
would  be  necessary  to  insure  decent  living  for  a  period  of 
one  year?  In  answering  this  question  the  board  made  use 
of  three  main  sources  of  information :  recent  statistical 
material  upon  the  subject;  first-hand  investigation  —  "the 
kind  of  inquiry  which  any  individual  seeking  food,  shelter 
and  lodging  is  daily  making  " ;  and  actual  budgets  of  fac- 
tory workers  collected  by  the  workers'  representatives.  The 
Federal  investigation  into  the  wages  and  living  conditions 
of  women  in  stores  and  factories,  and  Miss  Bosworth's 
study  of  actual  expenditures  of  450  wage-earning  women 
of  all  ranks  were  sources  of  concrete  information  about  the 
ways  of  living  of  self-supporting  women  in  Boston. 

The  board  also  had  the  estimate  of  a  standard  living 

1  Massachusetts  Minimum  Wage  Commission,  Bulletin  no.  3,  Ap- 
pendix No.  I. 


40  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [40 

wage  made  by  a  conference  of  some  thirty  social  workers 
of  Boston.  This  group  had  estimated  for  the  Commission 
on  Minimum  Wage  Boards  about  two  years  previously 
"  what  it  would  cost  a  woman  of  average  ability,  initiative, 
and  intelligence  when  living  at  home  and  also  when  living 
away  from  home,  to  secure  the  necessary  comforts  of 
life."  x  A  most  suggestive  part  of  their  report  was  the 
formulation  of  principles  to  be  considered  in  determining 
the  standard  of  living.  For  example,  in  the  question  of 
lodging  for  a  woman  not  living  at  home,  there  should  be  a 
window  in  the  room ;  the  room  should  be  larger  than  a  hall 
bedroom,  "  because  this  room  is  her  home,  where  she  re- 
ceives her  friends  of  both  sexes  and  passes  her  leisure  " ;  it 
should  be  heated  so  that  the  woman  does  not  have  to  rely 
upon  an  oil  or  gas  stove  for  the  sole  heat.  Finally,  the 
standard  should  not  require  her  to  share  the  room  with 
anyone  else.  If  she  is  living  at  home,  "  the  tenement  should 
have  as  many  rooms  as  there  are  members  of  the  family 
when  the  rooms  are  very  small,"  and  "  the  economic  value 
of  the  mother's  services  as  housekeeper  should  be  recog- 
nized." With  varying  degrees  of  definiteness,1  the  confer- 
ence set  principles  for  food,  clothing,  laundry,  health,  and 
recreations  expenditures.  Food  should  be  sufficient  in  quan- 
tity, quality  and  variety  to  preserve  health.  Its  cost  should 
not  be  based  on  more  than  one  meal,  breakfast,  being  cooked 
in  the  girl's  room.  The  cost  of  clothing  should  not  be  based 
on  the  assumption  that  a  working  woman  could  make  her 
own  clothes  in  the  evening.  The  cost  of  laundry  should  be 
based  on  her  washing  only  the  clothing  that  does  not  need 
to  be  ironed.  Considerations  of  health  must  allow  some 
expenditure  for  dentist,  doctor  and  oculist.  And  there 
should  be  a  two  weeks'  vacation  in  addition  to  weekly  rec- 
reation. 

1  Report   of  the  Commission   on   Minimum    Wage  Boards    (Boston, 
1912),  p.  222  et  seq. 


4i ]  WAGES  AND  THE  COST  OF  LIVING  4i 

These  data,  much  of  which  will  be  seen  to  be  merely 
negative,  and  other  data  bearing  in  a  more  general  way 
upon  the  standard  and  cost  of  living  were  used  to  aid  the 
board  in  their  decision.  Together  with  the  first-hand  in- 
quiries made  by  some  of  the  members  of  the  board  and  the 
estimates  of  the  workers  of  their  own  cost  of  living,  there 
was  thus  available  a  fund  of  information  out  of  which  the 
board  could  construct  a  standard  of  living  and  its  cost, 
representative  not  of  the  opinion  or  personal  prejudice  of  a 
single  group  of  individuals  but  of  a  consensus  of  different 
points  of  view. 

The  Industrial  Welfare  Commission  of  Washington  fol- 
lowed somewhat  the  same  method  in  carrying  the  minimum 
wage  law  into  effect.  They  describe  their  policy  as  fol- 
lows :  1 

Some  30,000  blank  forms  were  either  mailed  or  distributed 
personally  to  as  many  employers  and  employees,  requesting 
estimates  as  to  the  cost  of  living  in  the  different  localities  in 
which  they  lived,  as  contemplated  by  the  thirty  different  items 
entering  into  the  reasonable  annual  expenses  of  a  self-support- 
ing woman ;  personal  investigations  were  made  by  members 
of  the  Commission  and  by  several  paid  investigators ;  and 
lastly,  sixteen  informal  conferences  were  held  at  various 
points  in  the  State  with  employers  and  employees  in  the  mer- 
cantile, manufacturing  and  laundry  industries.  In  this  way 
a  vast  amount  of  detailed  information  regarding  these  in- 
dustries was  collected  and  compiled. 

This  information  was  placed  before  six  different  confer- 
ences made  up  of  three  representatives  each  of  employers, 
employees  and  the  public.  Usually  after  the  discussion  in 
the  larger  group,  a  committee  of  three  took  up  the  estimates 
and  "  by  further  discussion,  comparison,  and  compromise 

1  Industrial  Welfare  Commission,  Washington.  First  Biennial  Re- 
port, p.  91. 


42  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [42 

reached  a  conclusion  on  each  item  if  possible,  or  at  least  on 
the  allowance  that  should  be  made  for  all  the  items,  and  it 
was  on  that  allowance  that  the  minimum  wage  was  based." 
Estimates  of  the  annual  cost  of  self-support  were  made  in 
this  way  for  six  different  occupational  groups — mercantile, 
factory,  laundry,  telephone  and  telegraph,  hotel  and  res- 
taurant, and  office  workers.  Only  in  the  conference  on  the 
telephone  and  telegraph  workers  was  their  marked  differ- 
ence of  opinion  on  the  question  of  what  should  constitute 
self-support.  Here  the  public  view  differed  decidedly  from 
that  of  employees  and  employers.  Employees  joined  the  em- 
ployers in  the  contention  that  an  allowance  should  be  made 
for  the  girls  who  lived  at  home,  since  part  of  their  living 
expenses  was  thus  borne  by  their  parents;  on  the  other 
hand,  the  members  representing  the  public  maintained  that 
parents  should  not  be  called  upon  to  subsidize  an  industry 
that  did  not  pay  a  living  wage.  The  latter  carried  their 
point,  but  a  spirited  discussion  of  the  issue  was  necessary. 
But  this  agreement  of  the  former  groups  was  unusual. 

With  only  one  other  exception  (office  employees),  mem- 
bers representing  the  disinterested  public  were  always  called 
upon  "  to  exercise  the  mission  of  compromise  in  order  to 
bring  the  employer  and  employee  closer  together  in  their 
estimates."  The  final  decision  was  thus  not  the  contention 
of  a  single  group  but  was  modified  by  "  comparison,  discus- 
sion and  compromise." 

The  same  general  plan  of  getting  information  from  em- 
ployers and  employees  on  the  cost  of  living,  and  supple- 
menting it  by  personal  investigation,  was  pursued  by  the 
Industrial  Welfare  Commission  of  Oregon  and  the  Minne- 
sota Minimum  Wage  Commission.  In  Oregon  the  com- 
mission organized  conferences  of  employers,  employees 
and  the  public  to  consider,  among  other  questions,  the  sum 
required  to  maintain  a  self-supporting  woman  in  frugal  but 


43]  WAGES  AND  THE  COST  OF  LIVING  43 

decent  conditions  of  living  in  Portland  and  in  industrial 
towns  outside  of  Portland.  The  recommendations  of  these 
conferences  were  presented  at  public  hearings  before  they 
were  adopted  by  the  commission  and  embodied  in  the  order 
to  manufacturers.  In  Minnesota  the  commission  collected 
information  by  personal  interviews  with  working  women 
and  by  questionnaires  circulated  through  employers  and 
labor  unions.  Eight  thousand  of  these  latter  were  filled  out 
and  returned  to  the  commission  from  four  different  cities. 
The  secretary  of  the  commission  made  a  personal  investi- 
gation into  the  cost  of  living  in  some  nine  of  the  smaller 
industrial  cities,  and  advisory  boards  of  employers  and  em- 
ployees in  manufacturing  and  mercantile  pursuits  were  ap- 
pointed by  the  commission  in  Duluth,  Minneapolis,  and  St. 
Paul.  These  advisory  boards  submitted  recommendations 
on  the  cost  of  living  sufficient  to  maintain  health  and  to 
provide  the  necessary  comforts  and  conditions  of  reason- 
able life. 

These  four  states,  Massachusetts,  Washington,  Oregon 
and  Minnesota,  are  the  only  ones  in  which  the  minimum 
cost  of  living  has  been  determined  by  authorities  empow- 
ered to  make  it  a  basis  of  wages.  It  has  been  possible  to 
get  substantial  agreement  on  what  constitutes  the  absolute 
essentials  of  decent  living  and  the  cost  of  procuring  them. 
In  every  item  the  estimates  seem  to  have  been  pared  down 
to  the  lowest  possible  figure.  In  every  instance  the  budget 
has  been  submitted  to  wide,  varied  and  exacting  scrutiny. 

Assuming,  then,  the  accuracy  of  the  estimates,  a  com- 
parison of  earnings  with  the  cost  of  a  reasonable  standard 
of  living  has  revealed  the  fact  that  a  large  proportion  of 
women  wage-earners  make  less  than  enough  for  independ- 
ent support.  In  Massachusetts  in  the  brush  industry,  nearly 
nine-tenths  (88.7)  of  the  workers  received  less  than  eight 
dollars  a  week.     In  corsets,  hosiery  and  knit  goods,  and 


44  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [44 

paper  boxes,  about  three-fourths  earned  under  that  amount. 
In  the  candy  trade,  nearly  eighty-five  per  cent,  and  in  the 
making  of  women's  ready-made  clothing,  seventy  per  cent 
were  in  that  same  wage  group.  The  same  story  is  repeated 
with  slight  variation  wherever  wages  and  the  cost  of  living 
have  been  compared.  In  Washington  over  three-fifths 
(61.7)  received  less  than  the  $8.90  declared  there  to  be 
the  living  wage.  In  Portland,  Oregon,  nearly  one-half 
(48.1)  of  some  four  hundred  representative  factory  work- 
ers received  under  eight  dollars  a  week.  In  the  first  and 
second-class  cities  of  Minnesota  over  one-half  (53. &)  of 
the  factory  women  earned  under  that  amount.  According 
to  the  wages  prevailing  between  May  and  September,  19 14, 
in  Minneapolis,  St.  Paul  and  Duluth,  over  forty  per  cent 
received  under  eight  dollars. 

It  is  thus  sufficiently  obvious  that  unless  they  can  get  some 
supplement  to  their  wages  the  girls  who  are  earning  less 
than  a  living  wage  have  to  practise  an  undesirable  and  un- 
wholesome economy.  They  have  to  stint  on  food,  on  cloth- 
ing, on  amusement,  on  living  quarters.  Furthermore,  they 
can  make  no  provision  whatever  for  savings.  Not  even  the 
most  intelligent  planning  can  make  the  inadequate  wage 
provide  for  normal  immediate  needs.  Instead,  the  girl  who 
lives  in  lodgings  must  live  on  a  plane  where  physical  vitality 
and  efficiency  are  persistently  undermined. 

Nor  is  the  girl  who  lives  at  home  any  better  off.  It  is 
true  that  the  great  majority  of  girls,  and  especially  girls  in 
the  lowest  wage  groups,  live  at  home,  and  it  has  been  gen- 
erally assumed  that  "  there  was  a  male  breadwinner  suc- 
cessfully performing  his  allotted  task,  and  any  earnings  of 
wife  and  daughter  were  pin-money  added  to  his  steady  in- 
come." But  the  data  that  have  been  accumulated  in  wage 
inquiries  during  the  last  ten  years  have  shown  no  founda- 
tion in  fact  for  the  pin-money  theory  of  women's  earnings. 


45]  WAGES  AND  THE  COST  OF  LIVING  45 

On  the  contrary,  they  make  clear  that  the  overwhelming 
majority  of  wage-earning  girls,  at  least  three-fourths,  con- 
tribute all  of  their  earnings  to  the  family  purse.  Over 
twenty  per  cent  more  give  part  of  their  earnings.  Not  in- 
frequently there  is  no  adult  male  wage-earner  in  the 
family.  The  Factory  Investigating  Commission  reported 
that  among  the  factory  girls  interviewed  in  New  York  City 
approximately  one-fifth  were  "  in  households  which  alto- 
gether lacked  the  natural  support  of  a  male  over  18  years 
of  age."  x  A  negligible  number  of  wage-earning  girls — not 
more  than  three  per  cent — retain  all  of  their  earnings  for 
themselves.  The  earnings  of  a  girl  who*  lives  at  home  can 
almost  never,  then,  be  reckoned  as  "  pin  money  ". 

Another  question,  however,  arises.  Is  there  not,  at  least, 
an  economic  advantage  in  living  at  home?  It  has  been 
pointed  out  above  that  the  cost  of  living  has  been  con- 
structed on  the  basis  of  the  girl  who  is  "  adrift  ",  that  is, 
living  away  from  home.  The  Massachusetts  Brush  Work- 
ers' Board  seriously  considered  this  question.  This  was  not 
done,  however,  by  a  comparison  of  the  actual  cost  of  living 
at  home  and  adrift,  because  they  frankly  admitted  that  the 
almost  universal  lack  of  family  accounting  makes  it  almost 
impossible  to  tell  just  what  is  the  individual's  cost  of  living 
in  this  way.  They  held,  nevertheless,  that  if  allowance 
were  made  for  a  woman's  share  of  the  rent,  furniture,  light, 
heat,  the  mother's  labor  at  a  fair  wage,  and  other  items  of 
common  expense,  the  difference  between  her  expenses  and 
those  of  the  woman  living  independently  would  be  less  than 
is  commonly  supposed.  Many  personal  items  would,  of 
course,  be  as  large  in  one  case  as  in  the  other.  Moreover,  a 
woman's  obligation  to  aid  her  family  will  more  likely  be 
demanded  if  she  is  living  with  them.     A  fall  of  family  in- 

1  State  Factory  Investigating  Commission.  Fourth  Report,  vol.  iv, 
p.  1490. 


46  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [46 

come,  too,  would  involve  all  members  of  the  family.  Risk 
is  greater,  and  therefore  the  margin  of  safety  should  be 
greater  in  the  case  of  the  family.  The  general  conclusion 
of  the  Brush  Workers'  Board  was  to  discount  the  advan- 
tage of  living  at  home. 

In  Washington,  where  separate  conferences  were  held  in 
different  occupations,  the  telephone  and  telegraph  confer- 
ence showed,  as  has  been  said,  a  marked  difference  among 
its  members  on  this  subject.  Employers,  passively  endorsed 
by  employees,  contended  that  consideration  should  be  given 
to  the  fact  that  the  majority  of  the  girls  lived  at  home  and 
that  part  of  their  living  expenses  were  borne  by  their  par- 
ents. The  members  representing  the  public  strongly  dis- 
sented from  this  point  of  view  and  stood  out  against  recog- 
nizing the  right  of  industry  to  this  subsidy.  Their  point 
of  view  finally  prevailed. 

In  the  New  York  State  study  of  the  cost  of  living,  too, 
most  careful  thought  was  given  to  this  question :  Is  the  lot 
of  the  woman  living  at  home  better  or  worse  than  the  one 
who  lives  independently?  An  examination  of  working 
girls'  budgets  shows  that  girls  that  live  at  home  give,  as  a 
rule,  more  to  their  families  than  the  others  pay  for  board 
and  lodging.  On  the  other  hand,  the  girl  who  lives  at 
home  invariably  has  a  refund  for  clothes  and  amusement. 
"  Where  the  balance  of  advantage  lies,"  said  Mr.  Streight- 
off,  who  made  the  study,  "  it  is  impossible  to  say.  Numbers 
of  girls  living  at  home  are  subsidized.  Other  numbers, 
probably  as  large,  are  virtual  slaves  to  the  family  need."  * 
In  estimating  the  comparative  cost  of  board  and  lodging 
for  the  girl  living  at  home  and  the  girl  living  independently, 
Mr.  Streightoff  concluded  that  "  the  only  savings  that  may 
arise  from  living  at  home  are,  first,  that  the  mother  gives 

1  State  Factory  Investigating  Commission.  Fourth  Report,  vol.  iv, 
P-   1543- 


47]  WAGES  AND  THE  COST  OF  LIVING  47 

her  labor,  and,  second,  that  no  profit  is  necessary.  In  New 
York  City,"  he  said,  "  there  seems  to  be  very  little  differ- 
ence in  the  accommodations  enjoyed  by  girls  boarding  with 
strangers  and  by  those  living  with  their  own  people."  The 
mother's  labor,  he  maintained,  should  be  considered  in  the 
light  of  its  economic  value.  If  this  were  done,  and  the 
omission  of  profit  conceded,  he  asserted  that  "  the  only  dif- 
ference between  the  real  cost  of  board  and  lodging  of  those 
living  at  home  and  of  those  living  independently  can  be  put 
at  approximately  fifty  cents  "  in  favor  of  the  former.1  If 
the  girl  is  earning  less  than  enough  to  maintain  a  normal 
standard  of  living,  the  only  economic  advantage  of  living  in 
a  family  group  would  be  derived  from  the  fact  that  the  other 
members  of  the  family  have  surplus  incomes,  i.  e.,  incomes 
that  exceed  individual  requirements  and  that  can  make  up 
for  her  deficit.  But  studies  of  the  cost  of  living  of  wage- 
earners'  families  and  statistics  of  men's  wages  make  it  im- 
possible to  assume  that  the  families  are  numerous  in  which 
the  girl  can  count  on  the  surplus  income  of  some  one  else  to 
make  up  the  deficiencies  of  her  own.  Families  in  which  a 
normal  standard  of  living  obtains  and  where  the  daughters 
are  at  work  in  manufacturing  establishments  are  probably 
very  exceptional.  If,  then,  the  family  plane  of  living  is 
below  the  minimum  requirements  of  a  normal  standard,  it 
is  apparent  that  the  fact  that  a  wage-earning  girl  lives  at 
home  does  not  assure  her  the  necessities  of  a  decent  and 
reasonable  existence.  And  that,  after  all,  is  the  prime  con- 
sideration. Living  at  home  under  these  circumstances 
simply  means  sharing  the  common  adversity.  It  involves 
the  undermining  of  physical  efficiency  by  curtailing  expen- 
diture for  clothing,  amusement  and  recreation.  In  large 
families  and  in  families  where  lodgers  are  taken,  it  means 
a  degree  of  overcrowding  that  denies  a  reasonable  standard 

1  State  Factory  Investigating  Commission,  op.  cit.,  p.  1568. 


48  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [48 

of  comfort.  In  brief,  if  the  home  is  as  poor  as  the  girl,  the 
assumption  is  untenable  that  through  its  agency  she  can 
stretch  her  meager  earnings  to  provide  the  minimum  neces- 
sities of  life.  Thus,  from  the  evidence  at  present  available, 
it  would  appear  that  whatever  other  values  there  may  be  in 
living  at  home,  judgment  must  be  at  least  suspended  on  the 
economic  value. 

Those  girls  who  do  not  live  at  home  usually  find  their 
way  into  private  families,  sometimes  with  their  friends,  or 
into  low-priced  boarding  or  lodging  houses.  Very  few  fac- 
tory workers  live  in  the  subsidized  homes  for  working 
girls.  "  It  seems  impossible,"  says  one  investigator,  "  for 
these  homes  to  draw  at  the  same  time  girls  from  different 
industrial  planes,  both  because  of  the  impossibility  of  their 
paying  the  same  amounts  for  board  and  because  of  the  dif- 
ference in  social  status,  the  clerical  and  office  workers  in- 
variably feeling  above  the  store  girls,  and  the  store  girls  in 
turn  above  the  factory  girls."  *  It  is  more  often  the  case 
that  the  factory  worker  adrift  lives  with  some  poor  family 
at  very  low  cost.  Not  infrequently  she  becomes  one  of  the 
family  and  makes  up  in  work  for  the  small  amount  of  board 
she  can  pay.  Generally  the  standard  of  living  is  low.  There 
is  enough  crowding  to  destroy  all  privacy.  Often  her  bed- 
room is  shared  with  other  lodgers  or  members  of  the  family. 
The  plane  of  living  falls  far  short  of  that  required  by  a 
normal  standard. 

These  effects  of  an  environment  where  physical  vitality 
is  persistently  undermined  are  not  limited  to  the  individual 
herself.  Since  most  women  wage-earners  are  potential 
mothers,  the  future  health  of  the  race  itself  is  at  stake. 
The  physical  condition  of  children  is  markedly  influenced 
by  that  of  the  mother.     Hence,  the  question  of  women's 

1  Report  on  the  Condition  of  Woman  and  Child  Wage-earners,  vol. 
v,  p.  70. 


49]  WAGES  AND  THE  COST  OF  LIVING  49 

wages  inadequate  to  support  a  normal  standard  of  living 
becomes  a  social  question  of  even  greater  importance. 
There  is  also  the  special  danger  that  low  wages  will  be  a 
menace  to  morality.  No  other  phase  of  the  wages  question 
has  provoked  so  much  controversy  as  this  and  probably  no 
other  argument  has  carried  such  weight  in  the  demand  for 
increased  wages.  From  the  mass  of  material  collected  by 
vice  commissions  and  industrial  investigators,  the  economic 
connection  between  inadequate  earnings  and  occasional  or 
regular  prostitution  is  clearly  established.  It  is,  however, 
but  one  factor  in  a  maze  of  complex  circumstances,  and 
its  importance  is  extremely  difficult  to  determine  exactly. 
Some  will  underrate  its  influence;  others  will  emphasize 
and  stress  it.  The  consensus  of  opinion  is  that  as  a  direct 
and  immediate  cause  of  going  wrong,  low  wages  are  an 
almost  negligible  factor,  but  that  indirectly  their  influence  is 
marked  and  disastrous.1  The  conclusion  to  which  Miss 
Conyngton  came  from  her  investigation  of  the  relation  be- 
tween occupation  and  criminality  may  be  applied  to  all  the 
evidence  available. 

It  was  generally  agreed,  [says  Miss  Conyngton],  that  while 
it  is  the  rarest  of  things  for  a  girl  to  enter  upon  an  immoral 
life  directly  [italics  mine]  through  want,  yet  when  she  has  once 
gone  wrong  through  thoughtlessness  or  affection  or  from  any 
other  cause,  then  low  wages,  or  irregular  or  insufficient  wages 
are  strongly  effective  in  deciding  her  to  adopt  a  life  of 
promiscuous  immorality,  or  in  impelling  her  to  drift  into 
such  a  life  without  any  definite  decision.  When  the  question 
was  shifted  to  the  indirect  [italics  mine]  effect  of  low  wages 
and  poverty,  the  answer  was  different.  The  girls  were  liv- 
ing at  home  in  so  many  cases  that  the  discussion  necessarily 
dealt  rather  with  the  family  income  than  with  the  girl's  im- 

1  Report  on  the  Condition  of  Woman  and  Child  Wage-earners,  vol. 
xv,  p.  93. 


so  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [50 

mediate  wages.  Poverty  whether  it  be  the  result  of  a  low 
family  income  or  of  insufficient  wages  of  a  girl  living  by  her- 
self touches  the  question  of  immorality  in  many  ways.  It  de- 
cides the  girl's  companionships,  her  amusements,  her  ability 
to  gratify  without  danger  her  natural  and  reasonable  tastes, 
her  very  capacity  for  resistance  to  temptation.  Its  physical 
effects  open  the  way  to  moral  dangers.1 

To  many  it  may  seem  a  waste  of  time  and  mere  quibbling 
to  discuss  the  exact  character  of  the  relation  between  wages 
and  sexual  immorality.  Probably  not  a  few  of  us  have  been 
astonished  in  public  conferences  to  see  the  fervor  and  agi- 
tation with  which  the  assertion  of  the  direct  influence  is 
repudiated  and  the  comparative  equanimity  with  which  a 
statement  of  the  indirect  influence  can  be  received.  Ex- 
pressed in  its  least  offensive  form,  it  still  remains  a  factor 
to  be  reckoned  with  as  an  outcome  of  wages  too  low  to 
meet  the  requirements  of  decent  livelihood. 

To  sum  up,  we  may  say  that  the  wages  of  a  substantial 
majority  of  industrial  women  fall  short  of  the  amount  re- 
quired to  maintain  a  normal  standard  of  life.  If  a  normal 
standard  is  maintained  under  the  circumstances,  it  must  be 
by  aid  received  from  other  sources.  To  this  extent  indus- 
trial women  at  present  fail  of  self-support.  Lacking  such 
aid,  the  deficit  is  shown  in  a  lowering  of  vitality  and  effi- 
ciency, a  menace  to  the  welfare  of  women  both  as  indi- 
viduals and  as  potential  mothers;  and  if  such  aid  be  pres- 
ent, it  is  often  at  the  cost  of  undermining  social  and  moral 
standards. 

1  Report  on  the  Condition  of  Woman  and  Child  Wage-earners,  vol. 
xv,  p.  93. 


CHAPTER  III 
Factors  Affecting  Women's  Wages 

The  marked  disparity  between  the  wages  of  women  and 
those  of  men  can  be  largely  traced  to  influences  peculiar  to 
women's  experience  in  the  industrial  world.     In  the  first 
place,  the  majority  of  women  workers  are  young  and  are 
engaged  in  wage-earning  occupations  only  in  those  years 
between  leaving  school  and  getting  married.     Thus,  their 
age  grouping  is  in  marked  contrast  to  that  of  men.    Nearly 
one-third    (30.8)    of  the  women  workers  reported  in  the 
census  of  1910  were  under  21  years  of  age,  against  only 
one-sixth   (16.5)    of  the  men  workers.     With  few  excep- 
tions, in  the  twenty-seven  industries  studied  for  the  Federal 
Report   on   the   Condition   of   Women  and  Child   Wage- 
earners,   from  two-thirds  to  three-fourths  of  the  women 
employed  were  under  25.     In  every  industry  there  was  a 
marked  concentration  in  the  age  group  sixteen  and  seven- 
teen.   The  predominant  age  period — that  is,  the  year  when 
the  greatest  number  of  workers  is  employed — varies  little  in 
different  industries   or  in  different  parts  of  the  country. 
In  the  New  England  cotton  mills  there  was  about  the  same 
number  of  employees  at  the  ages  of  18  and  21.    In  Virginia 
16  was  the  dominant  age,  and  in  each  of  the  other  Southern 
cotton  states  18  was  the  age  of  the  largest  number  at  work. 
In  the  cotton  mills  of  the  South,  a  rapid  decline  in  numbers 
follows  the  age  of  18.     In  the  North  a  similarly  rapid  de- 
cline begins  at  the  age  of  21 ;  at  22  the  number  is  a  quarter 
less;  at  24  the  number  has  decreased  to  less  than  one-half 
that  at  2 1 . 

51]  Si 


52  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [52 

In  the  men's  ready-made  clothing  trade,  the  largest  num- 
ber of  women  found  at  work  at  any  single  age  was  17  and 
18,  and  the  numbers  at  those  ages  were  exactly  the  same. 
After  18  the  numbers  decline.  Between  20  and  21  the 
sharpest  drop  comes.  At  21  the  number  is  only  two-thirds 
that  at  20.  At  the  age  of  22  is  found  less  than  one-half  the 
number  at  18,  and  at  24  only  one-fourth  of  that  number. 
So  brief  is  the  stay  of  women  in  the  clothing  industry. 
From  three  to  nine  years  make  up  their  wage-earning 
period. 

In  summarizing  the  twenty-three  industries  less  inten- 
sively studied,  the  Federal  Report  puts  the  matter  of  age  as 
follows :  * 

The  real  rush  into  industrial  employment  seems  to  begin  at 
sixteen  at  which  age  nearly  one-tenth  of  the  whole  group  were 
found.  For  two  years  the  number  coming  in  exceeds  those 
going  out,  the  number  in  any  one-year  age  group  reaching  its 
maximum  at  18.  At  19  the  number  begins  to  fall  off  and 
thenceforth  the  decrease  is  rapid.  ...  So  far  as  this  group  of 
workers  can  be  taken  as  typical  it  appears  that  about  one  in 
ten  begins  her  industrial  life  before  she  is  16,  about  one  in 
four  continues  it  after  she  is  25  and  approximately  one  in  seven 
keeps  on  after  30,  for  the  great  majority  the  period  of  industrial 
life  lies  between  15  and  25  years  of  age.2 

The  constant  exodus  of  women  after  the  age  of  21  and 
the  recruiting  from  the  younger  girls,  gives  to  this  group  of 
workers  a  high  degree  of  instability  and  a  large  proportion 
of  youth  and  inexperience.     Such  a  group  is  naturally  re- 

1  Report  on  the  Condition  of  Woman  and  Child  Wage-earners,  61st 
Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  Senate  Document  no.  645,  vol.  xviii,  p.  20. 

2  Of  course  this  cannot  be  accepted  conclusively  as  evidence  that 
those  at  the  age  of  30  or  over  have  been  in  industry  continuously.  For 
many  who  drop  out  at  19  or  20  may  return  between  25  and  30  or  even 
later. 


53]  FACTORS  AFFECTING  WAGES  53 

stricted  to  the  simplest  and  most  elementary  kind  of  work. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  a  review  of  the  occupations  in  which 
women  are  employed  is,  for  the  majority,  a  review  of  one 
unskilled  or  semi-skilled  occupation  after  another.  Their 
labor  in  factories  and  workshops  is  of  the  lower  grades 
involving  neither  special  knowledge  nor  training. 

In  the  cotton  textile  industry,  for  example,  women  are 
employed  in  nine  of  the  fourteen  principal  processes.  But 
their  real  importance  from  the  standpoint  of  the  work  they 
do  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  in  New  England  75.3  per  cent 
and  in  the  South  86.9  per  cent  are  in  six  occupations. 
Nearly  two-thirds  in  New  England  are  ringspinners,  speeder 
tenders,  and  weavers.  In  the  South  nearly  three-fourths  are 
ringspinners,  spoolers,  and  weavers.1 

The  chief  work  of  the  ringspinner  is  tending  the  spindles 
in  the  ringspinning  process.  It  consists  of  watching  for 
broken  threads,  which  are  joined  by  a  twist  of  the  wrist 
and  the  fingers.  No  special  mechanical  knowledge  is  needed. 
Spinners  do  not  even  oil  the  machines.  That  and  the  repair 
work  are  in  the  hands  of  men.  No  great  physical  strength 
is  needed — only  a  constant  watchfulness  to  detect  the  broken 
threads,  and  the  dexterity  quickly  acquired  by  nimble  fin- 
gers to  mend  them.  It  is  in  point  to  contrast  it  with  an- 
other type  of  spinning — mule-spinning — in  which  only  men 
engage.  The  machine  used  in  this  process  is  a  very  com- 
plicated one,  requiring  much  mechanical  skill  to  keep  prop- 
erly adjusted.  To  mend  the  broken  threads  involves  bend- 
ing far  over  a  moving  carriage,  which  makes  the  work  un- 
suitable for  women.  The  danger  of  their  skirts  being 
caught  in  the  moving  machinery  further  disqualifies  them 
for  this  well-paid  occupation. 

1  There  is  a  difference  between  the  North  and  the  South  in  the  dis- 
tribution of  women  within  these  occupations  due  to  character  of 
goods  manufactured  and  difference  in  character  of  labor  supply. 


54  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [54 

Speeder  tenders  have  to  lift  bobbins  of  roving,  sometimes 
large  and  heavy,  to  a  height  5^2  to  6  feet  above  the  floor, 
mend  broken  threads  and  remove  the  filled  bobbins.  This 
work,  like  that  of  spooling,  entails  a  certain  amount  of 
physical  strain  if  a  woman  has  only  ordinary  strength — but 
neither  process  makes  any  demand  upon  knowledge  or 
judgment. 

Finally  there  is  weaving,  the  most  important  occupation 
numerically  and  the  best  paid  of  those  in  which  women  are 
employed.  It  embraces  about  one-third  of  the  women  in 
the  industry  and  is  often  ranked  as  a  skilled  trade.  The 
weaver  must  detect  broken  threads  and  mend  them,  keep  the 
shuttles  filled  and  place  them  in  the  looms.  The  number  of 
looms  that  can  be  tended  properly  depends  upon  the  skill  of 
the  weaver  and  the  type  of  loom.  Recent  inventions,  such 
as  the  stop-motion  loom,  reduce  the  strain  upon  the  weaver 
by  causing  the  loom  to  stop  automatically  when  the  thread 
breaks.  Although  weaving  is  often  ranked  as  a  skilled 
trade,  experience,  carrying  with  it  the  capacity  to  tend  many 
looms,  would  seem  to  be  the  chief  element  of  skill  required, 
for  children  as  well  as  men  and  women  are  employed  as 
weavers.  In  North  Carolina  mills  investigated  by  the  Fed- 
eral agents,  twelve  per  cent  of  the  female  weavers  were 
under  sixteen  years  of  age. 

In  the  men's  ready-made  clothing  trade,  which  ranks  next 
to  cotton  in  the  number  of  women  employed,  hand  sewing — 
the  actual  needle  work  on  the  garment — is  women's  largest 
field  of  work.  Roughly,  the  employees  in  this  highly  sub- 
divided industry  may  be  separated  into  machine  operators 
and  hand  sewers  of  higher  and  lower  grades.  From  two- 
thirds  to  five-sixths  of  the  women  are  in  the  latter  groups. 
The  number  varies  in  the  different  centers  of  the  trade. 
Over  one-half  of  the  women  in  New  York,  Philadelphia 
and  Baltimore,  and  over  four-tenths  of  those  in  Chicago 


55]  FACTORS  AFFECTING  WAGES  55 

and  Rochester  were  doing  the  lowest-paid  work  in  the  trade, 
the  simplest  kind  of  hand  sewing. 

In  tobacco  manufactures  and  in  the  canning  and  preserv- 
ing industry,  further  evidence  of  the  kind  of  work  done  by 
women  is  found.  Each  of  them  employed  over  75,000 
women  at  the  Census  of  1905.  The  manufacture  of  tobacco 
is  divided  into  three  great  branches,  cigarettes,  cigars,  and 
smoking  and  chewing  tobacco.  Cigarette-making  employs 
the  smallest  number  of  men  and  women.  It  is  chiefly  a 
machine  industry,  but  there  are  a  number  of  light  hand 
operations  in  which  a  large  number  of  women  and  girls  are 
employed  as  hand  workers  as  well  as  tenders  of  light  ma- 
chines. They  make  up  about  two-thirds  of  the  force. 
"  Practically  none  of  the  female  wage-earners  can  be  called 
skilled.  In  many  of  the  operations  performed  by  them  a 
brief  training  is  required,  but  there  is  no  operation  in  which 
the  necessary  knowledge  cannot  be  gained  in  a  few  weeks."  x 
In  the  making  of  cigars,  women  predominate  almost  every- 
where in  the  unskilled  work.  There  are  a  few  skilled 
workers  but  they  form  a  very  small  proportion  of  the  total 
group.  Judging  from  the  conditions  found  in  the  Federal 
investigation,  they  are  increasing  in  numbers  in  the  indus- 
try, but  they  are  not  gaining  in  the  skilled  occupations. 
Rather  this  increase  is  due  to  the  growing  use  of  machines 
where  little  training,  intelligence  or  strength  is  required  on 
the  part  of  the  operator.  Similarly  in  the  making  of  smok- 
ing and  chewing  tobacco  "  the  occupation  of  the  women 
may  be  learned,  as  a  rule,  in  from  a  week  to  two  months, 
according  to  the  worker's  intelligence.  After  that  speed 
may  be  gained  but  there  is  little  possibility  of  advance." 
The  same  lack  of  skill  characterizes  women's  work  in  the 
canning  and  preserving  of  fruits,  vegetables  and  oysters. 

1  Report  on  Condition,  etc.,  vol.  xviii,  p.  77. 

2  Ibid.,  pp.  308-309,  321. 


5<5  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [56 

"  None  of  the  work  done  by  women  can  be  called  more 
than  semi-skilled,  and  in  most  cases  it  is  frankly  unskilled. 
Speed  is  demanded  and  a  certain  dexterity  gained  by  prac- 
tise, but  nothing  more."  x  The  more  responsible  parts  of 
the  work,  which  include  the  actual  cooking  of  the  vegetables 
and  fruits  or  the  compounding  of  relishes,  are  all  done  by 
men. 

To  sum  up,  the  great  majority  of  women  in  industry  are 
engaged  in  tending  machinery,  or  in  performing  simple 
mechanical  operations.  Occupations  that  require  unusual 
speed  and  accuracy,  experience,  training,  physical  strength 
and  endurance,  mechanical  knowledge,  or  special  respon- 
sibility are  carried  on  by  men.  Those  that  require  neither 
special  knowledge  nor  training,  but  only  watchfulness,  deft- 
ness, or  the  capacity  to  do  a  given  thing  over  and  over  again, 
— those  are  the  occupations  to  which  women  and  girls  are 
confined.  Their  wages,  therefore,  are  the  wages  of  the  very 
lowest  grades  of  work. 

It  is  to  be  noted,  further,  that  even  within  this  unfavor- 
able field  of  earnings  the  majority  of  women  do  not  remain 
at  work  long  enough  to  reach  their  maximum  earning  capac- 
ity. In  the  cotton  textile  industry,  hourly  earnings  were 
computed  in  Massachusetts  mills  by  detailed  age  groups. 
Taking  all  occupations  and  beginning  at  16  years  of  age, 
there  is  a  steady  increase  from  10.8  cents  an  hour  to  14. 1, 
which  is  reached  at  the  age  of  22.  This  falls  at  23  to  13.8. 
but  returns  at  24  to  14. 1  and  increases  steadily  to  the  max- 
imum of  15.4  cents.  This  is  reached  in  the  age  group  35-39 
and  maintained  in  the  period  40-44,  after  which  it  declines. 
In  this  group  are  only  twelve  per  cent  of  the  total  number  of 
women  16  years  of  age  and  over.  Seventy-two  per  cent 
were  under  the  age  of  maximum  earnings,  and  of  this  group 
45.71  per  cent  were  in  the  age  group  16-23.     Considering  a 

1  Report  on  Cotidition,  etc.,  vol.  xviii,  pp.  40-41. 


57] 


FACTORS  AFFECTING  WAGES 


57 


single  occupation,  that  of  weaving,  the  age  of  maximum 
efficiency  is  35-39,  an  age  group  in  which  only  nine  per  cent 
of  the  weavers  are  found. 

The  tendency  for  earnings  to  increase  with  age  is  indi- 
cated in  the  figures  taken  from  studies  made  in  the  cotton 
and  silk  industries,  and  given  in  Chapter  I.1  Earnings  in- 
crease from  the  low  to  the  high-wage  groups  with  a  fair 
degree  of  regularity.  In  New  Jersey  in  the  silk  industry 
maximum  hourly  earnings  were  recorded  at  the  age  of 
24  as  17.9  cents  an  hour,  and  at  the  ages  25-34  as  17.1. 
Then  comes  a  slight  drop  in  the  group  35-44,  16.4  cents, 
followed  by  a  return  to  17.2  cents  an  hour  for  the  group 
45-54.  The  small  number  of  individuals  in  the  last  group, 
however,  invalidates  the  significance  of  their  earnings.  It 
is  probably  warranted  to  fix  the  period  from  24-34  years  as 
the  period  of  maximum  earnings.  In  Pennsylvania  maxi- 
mum earnings  are  apparently  made  in  the  same  age  period, 
though  it  should  be  noted  that  the  data  are  based  on  a 
smaller  number  than  in  New  Jersey.  The  following  figures 
show  for  a  much  larger  group  in  the  Pennsylvania  mills  the 
variation  of  earnings  with  age  in  the  wider  age  groups. 

Per  Cent  of  Female  Employees  in  Silk  Mills  in  Pennsylvania  in 

Classified  Age  Croups  Earning  Less  than  Specified  Amounts 

in   a    Representative   Week 


Employees. 

Per  cent  of  tot 
earni 

il  in  age 
ng— 

group 

Age  group. 

Num- 
ber. 

Percent 
in  age 
group. 

Under 

$4- 

Under 
$6. 

92.1 

76.3 
42.0 

70.7 

Under 

$8. 

Under 
$10. 

16  and  17  years 

I>569 
1,243 
1,410 

28.7 
22.7 
25.8 

58.4 
36.0 
16.2 

98.3 
91.6 

71.4 

99.9 
98.8 
89.6 

Total,  16  years  and  over. 

4,522 

77.2 

37-7 

87.4 

96.2 

1  Cf.  supra,  pp.  31,  33.      2  Report  on  th-e  Condition,  etc.,  vol.  iv,  p.  157- 


rg  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [58 

Here  there  is  apparent  a  steady  decrease  in  the  lower  wage 
groups  accompanied  by  a  steady  increase  in  the  higher. 
Unlike  the  cotton  textile  industry,  the  rate  of  increase  is 
much  greater  between  the  ages  of  18  to  20  years  and  21 
and  over  than  between  the  ages  16  and  17  and  18  to  20. 
Age  or  a  continued  stay  in  the  industry,  or  perhaps  both, 
have  a  greater  influence  upon  earnings. 

In  the  men's  ready-made  clothing  trade,  earnings  were 
computed  only  on  a  weekly  basis  and  for  Chicago  alone.1 
The  results  show  a  very  rapid  increase  in  earnings  between 
the  ages  of  16  and  21,  an  increase  of  $2.57,  or  nearly  fifty 
per  cent.  Between  the  ages  of  21,  and  35-39,  the  period  of 
maximum  earnings,  wages  are  relatively  stable,  increasing 
by  only  sixty-eight  cents.  After  that  they  decline.  In  the 
glass  industry,  maximum  earnings  are  recorded  for  the  age 
group  25-29.  Up  to  that  age  there  is  a  steady  and  appre- 
ciable increase  in  weekly  earnings.  Beyond  it  there  is  a 
sharp  falling-off.  Finally,  in  twenty-three  other  represen- 
tative industries  there  is  in  each  industry  a  steady  increase  in 
earnings  up  to  the  age  of  20. 2  In  the  two  other  age  groups, 
"21-24"  and  "25  and  over,"  the  sequence  is  frequently 
irregular.  With  only  two  exceptions,  however,  and  those 
involving  comparatively  small  numbers,  each  industry  shows 
an  increased  earning  power  up  to  the  age  of  twenty-four, 
and  the  largest  proportion  of  those  earning  as  much  as  ten 
dollars  a  week  were  in  the  age  group  twenty-five  years  and 
over. 

It  follows,  then,  from  the  decline  in  numbers  which  has 
been  noted  at  the  age  of  21,  that  a  large  proportion  of 
young  women  do  not  stay  in  industrial  work  long  enough 
to  make  the  maximum  earnings  in  even  the  lowest-paid 
group  of  occupations.     They  leave  before  they  secure  the 

1  Report  on  the  Condition,  etc.,  vol.  ii,  p.  155. 

2  Ibid.,  vol.  xviii,  p.  25. 


59]  FACTORS  AFFECTING  WAGES  59 

rewards  of  experience  even  in  the  grade  of  occupations  in 
which  they  are  employed. 

Another  influence  that  has  tended  to  depress  women's 
wages  has  been  the  absence  of  collective  bargaining.  The 
great  majority  of  women  are  unorganized.  In  common 
with  all  unskilled  labor  in  America,  they  have  felt  the  indif- 
ference of  the  organized  labor  movement.  To  this  has  been 
added  the  obstacles  to  organization  peculiar  to  young  and 
temporary  workers.  Although,  as  we  shall  see  later  on,  the 
trade-union  movement  among  women  is  much  stronger  than 
is  commonly  supposed,  nevertheless  the  great  majority  of 
girls  and  young  women  are  without  its  defenses. 

It  is,  of  course,  impossible  to  say  exactly  what  effect  the 
absence  of  trade-unionism  has  upon  the  level  of  wages — how 
much  higher  it  would  be  if  women  were  a  well-organized 
working  group.  Undoubtedly,  the  lack  of  organization 
with  established  rates  of  pay  accounts  in  part  for  the  com- 
plete absence  of  standards  in  women's  wages  frequently 
noted  in  industrial  inquiries.1 

When  it  comes  to  the  question  of  earnings  [reports  a  Federal 
investigator],  the  lack  of  standardization  seems  to  reach  its 
height.  .  .  .  The  determining  factor  seemed  not  so  much  what 
their  (women's)  services  were  worth  or  what  the  industry 
could  afford  as  the  individual  employers  attitude  upon  the 
matter.  In  one  and  the  same  industry  employers  would  be 
found  who  so  graded  their  rates  that  the  average  employee 
would  be  able  to  earn  fair  wages,  the  unusual  employee,  of 
course,  under  such  a  system,  earning  very  good  wages ;  em- 
ployers who  took  foreign  women  because  they  could  get  them 
for  lower  wages  than  American  women  and  employers  who 
sought  girls  under  sixteen  for  all  the  occupations  they  could 
fill  on  the  admitted  ground  that  "  they  could  do  as  much  as 
a  woman  and  would  work  for  less."     In  many  cases  there 

1  Report  on  the  Condition,  etc.,  vol.  xviii,  p.  36. 


5o  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [60 

was  an  evident  intention  to  treat  employees  justly  and  con- 
siderately, but  nowhere  was  there  any  generally  accepted 
standard  of  what  constituted  a  fair  or  reasonable  wage.  What 
a  woman  could  earn  by  a  week's  work  seemed  to  depend  fully 
as  much  upon  extrinsic  factors  over  which  she  had  no  possible 
control  as  upon  her  own  ability  or  her  own  efforts. 

Writing  of  the  artificial  flower  industry  in  New  York 
City,  Miss  Van  Kleeck  says : 

the  fixing  of  wage  seems  indeed  to  be  a  matter  of  chance.  It 
was  described  by  a  forewoman  who  said  that  although  a 
definite  percentage  of  the  price  was  always  allowed  for  sales- 
men's pay  and  firm's  profits,  the  wage  rate  was  determined 
by  the  forewoman's  guess.  She  made  it  as  low  as  possible 
zuithout  causing  a  spontaneous  uprising  in  the  zvorkroom.1 

In  the  Federal  inquiry  into  the  glass  industry  "  the  fact  of 
frequent  wage  variation  from  factory  to  factory  "  is  re- 
ported as  "  the  most  significant  single  fact  to  be  noted  in  an 
analysis  of  women's  wages."  2  For  this  industry  a  com- 
parison was  made  of  the  wages  paid  in  four  unskilled  occu- 
pations where  there  was  a  close  similarity  of  working  con- 
ditions in  a  series  of  factories  within  a  radius  of  fifty  miles 
of  the  most  central  one.  In  three  of  the  four  the  highest 
wage  paid  by  the  establishment  at  one  extreme  was  over 
double  that  paid  by  the  establishment  at  the  other.  In  the 
fourth  occupation  the  difference  was  but  very  little  short  of 
ioo  per  cent.  "  Among  the  more  skilled  occupations  the 
variations  were  not  so  great  as  among  unskilled  occupa- 
tions, but  the  same  tendency  was  everywhere  found  to  exist. 
Among  women  glass  workers  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a 
level  of  occupational  wage  even  within  a  very  limited  terri- 
tory." 3     Another  instance  may  be  cited   from  the  men's 

1  Van  Kleeck,  Artificial  Flower  makers,  p.  67.     The  italics  are  mine. 

2  Report  on  the  Condition,  etc.,  vol.  iii,  pp.  409-410. 

3  Ibid.,  p.  408  e t  seq. 


6i]         FACTORS  AFFECTING  WAGES  6l 

ready-made  clothing  industry  where  lower-grade  hand  sew- 
ers doing  the  same  work  on  coats  received  two  cents  more 
an  hour  in  Chicago  and  Rochester  than  they  did  in  New 
York  and  Baltimore.  Hand  sewers  of  the  higher  grades 
received  over  three  cents  more  an  hour.1  Operators  in  Chi- 
cago received  over  five  cents  more  an  hour  than  in  New 
York.  The  report  calls  direct  attention  to  "  the  absence  of 
what  might  be  called  a  standard  wage  in  the  industry." 
This  applies  to  both  men  and  women  and  to  piece  and  time 
rates.  "  There  are  no  standard  rates  or  standard  earnings 
in  the  sense  in  which  there  are  day  rates  for  unskilled  labor 
or  definite  rates  in  highly  skilled  trades,  such  as  the  print- 
ing trade."  2 

With  women  left  to  the  field  of  individual  bargaining,  we 
have  the  play  of  forces  that  inevitably  tend  toward  the 
lowering  of  wages.  The  well-recognized  inequality  of  bar- 
gaining power  is  especially  marked  in  the  case  of  girls  and 
young  women,  and  hence  the  fixing  of  their  wage  under 
these  conditions  is  left  to  the  crudest  working  of  the  prin- 
ciple of  supply  and  demand. 

Finally,  between  men  and  women,  there  is  a  recognized 
difference  of  economic  status  and  function  that  has  a  far- 
reaching  effect  upon  wages.  The  economic  status  of  the 
great  majority  of  women  to-day  is  that  of  dependents.  If  a 
father's  income  is  ample  to  provide  for  the  family  wants, 
including  the  support  of  wife  and  daughters,  the  girls  as  a 
rule  will  not  go  out  to  work  for  wages.  Men  the  bread- 
winners, and  women  the  homemakers;  men  the  producers, 
and  women  the  consumers  or  dispensers  of  income;  such 
appears  the  "  natural  "  economic  basis  of  the  family  and 
the  relation  of  the  sexes.  But  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  divi- 
sion of   function  exists   in  its  entirety  among  a  steadily 

1  Report  on  the  Condition,  etc.,  vol.  ii,  p.  185. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  194. 


62  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [62 

dwindling  social  class.  For  it  requires  the  possession  of 
economic  resources  much  larger  than  those  of  the  average 
wage-earner  to  support  a  wife,  and  daughters  also,  who  are 
completely  exempted  from  gainful  employment.  The  re- 
turns of  the  last  census  show  that  four  out  of  every  ten 
girls  between  the  ages  of  16  and  20  were  working  for 
wages,  and  one  woman  out  of  every  four  between  the  ages 
of  21  and  44. 

Although  the  breakdown  of  the  status  of  economic  de- 
pendence is  going  on  rapidly  in  the  case  of  the  unmarried 
woman,  it  can  hardly  be  said,  at  least  in  the  United  States, 
to  have  affected  that  of  the  married.  Even  in  theory  the 
desirability  of  combining  wage-earning  with  matrimony  is 
advocated,  one  might  say,  by  professional  women  alone. 
Certainly  it  has  found  no  footing  among  girls  who  work  in 
factories.  To  them  marriage  means  a  release  from  wage- 
earning  to  enter  upon  the  real  vocation  of  women,  the  care 
of  home  and  husband  and  children,  and  our  social  institu- 
tions at  the  present  time  make  no  combination  of  home 
duties  and  factory  work  for  married  women  either  desir- 
able in  theory  or  attractive  in  practise.  This  division  of 
function  between  men  and  women  has  an  important  bear- 
ing upon  their  respective  wage-earning  interests.  Its  influ- 
ence may  be  seen  in  the  restriction  of  women's  opportunity 
when  they  come  into  competition  with  men  and  in  the  op- 
position that  meets  their  employment  in  what  is  regarded  as 
men's  work  —  a  classification  of  work,  be  it  noted,  based 
largely  on  custom.  An  example  of  this  recently  has  received 
wide  publicity  in  the  decision  of  the  War  Labor  Board 
recommending  the  discharge  of  a  number  of  women  who 
had  been  working  as  conductors  on  the  Cleveland  street 
railways  in  response  to  a  threatened  strike  of  the  men  em- 
ployed in  a  similar  capacity.  The  action  of  the  men  was 
taken  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  women  were  working 


63]  FACTORS  AFFECTING  WAGES  63 

under  regular  union  conditions  and  had  qualified  for  ad- 
mission into  the  men's  union,  which  was,  however,  refused. 
The  Cleveland  case  may  be  regarded  as  a  drastic  expression 
of  the  point  of  view  stated  by  various  labor  unions  that 
women  should  withdraw  from  the  industrial  work  they  had 
taken  up  in  war  time  and  return  to  those  home  duties  that 
constitute  their  proper  sphere  of  labor. 

Industrial  investigators  have  frequently  pointed  out  the 
tendency  of  women  to  yield  the  better-paying  positions  to 
men  when  there  is  any  real  degree  of  competition  between 
them.  For  instance,  in  the  manufacture  of  silk,  the  three 
most  highly  skilled  and  best  paid  occupations  are  weaving, 
warping  and  twisting-in.1  In  Paterson,  N.  J.,  of  some 
3500  men  and  women  engaged  in  these  occupations,  forty 
per  cent  (39.1)  were  women,  whereas  of  some  1400  doing 
the  same  kind  of  work  in  the  Pennsylvania  factories,  ninety 
per  cent  were  women.  The  explanation  of  this  fact  may  be 
found  in  the  different  occupational  opportunities  for  men  in 
the  two  regions.  In  Pennsylvania,  silk  factories  have  been 
purposely  established  in  the  anthracite  coal  counties  of  Lack- 
awanna and  Luzerne.  Prior  to  their  coming  there  were  no 
manufacturing  industries.  Mining  absorbed  all  the  male 
labor  and  practically  continued  to  do  so  even  after  the  ad- 
vent of  the  factory.  Thus  it  has  happened  that  there  has 
been  no  real  degree  of  competition  between  men  and  women. 
And  women  not  only  predominate  in  the  skilled  processes, 
but  they  also  work  in  occupations  not  considered  fit  for 
women.  For  example,  only  18  women  and  girls  were  found 
as  spinners  in  the  Paterson  mills,  as  against  729  in  Penn- 
sylvania. 

This  marked  difference  between  the  localities  [says  the  Federal 
Report],2  is  due  largely  to  the  fact  that  in  Paterson  the  work 

1  Report  on  the  Condition,  etc-,  vol.  iv,  p.  55. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  194. 


64  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [64 

of  a  spinner  is  considered  a  man's  work,  and  this  is  the  belief 
of  not  only  the  operatives  generally,  but  of  practically  every 
throwster  in  that  city.  With  only  a  few  exceptions  the  opinion 
of  the  throwsters  was  that  spinning  was  much  too  hard  and 
unhealthful  work  for  women  and  girls.  Another  factor  of 
considerable  importance  is  that  there  are  numerous  opportuni- 
ties for  employment  in  less  arduous  and  equally  remunerative 
occupations  in  shirt  factories,  stores,  etc.  The  Paterson  girls 
can  be  somewhat  independent  in  their  choice  of  employments. 
On  the  other  hand  in  small  localities  in  Pennsylvania  where 
the  industry  has  been  newly  established  there  is  no  sentiment 
and  no  settled  custom  on  the  subject  of  women  and  children 
in  specified  occupations.  (Italics  mine.)  In  addition  there 
always  has  been  an  abundant  supply  of  women  and  girls  seek- 
ing employment  in  the  silk  mills  which  were  at  the  outset,  in 
most  cases  the  only  factory. 

In  Pennsylvania  the  women  get  a  chance  even  in  the  super- 
visory positions.  In  Paterson  those  in  charge  of  factory 
rooms  are  mostly  men;  in  Pennsylvania  they  are  chiefly 
young  women. 

In  the  men's  ready-made  clothing  trade,  as  we  have  al- 
ready noted,  the  important  occupations  are  generally  in  the 
hands  of  men,  but  this  distribution  varies  in  different  cities. 
Compare,  for  example,  Chicago  and  New  York  in  respect 
of  operating.  Four-fifths  (79.3)  of  the  operators  in  Chi- 
cago were  women,  whereas  only  a  little  more  than  one-fifth 
(22.4)  were  doing  this  work  in  New  York.  In  Chicago  it 
appears  that  men  find  a  larger  field  of  employment  in  the 
machine-shops,  slaughtering  and  meat-packing  houses,  and  I 
they  leave  tailoring  and  needlework  to  women.  Moreover, 
they  are  of  the  races,  chiefly  Poles  and  Bohemians,  who  are 
more  ready  to  do  hard  physical  work  than  are  the  Jews 
who  dominate  the  industry  in  New  York.  Thus  this  field 
of  work  is  chiefly  in  the  hands  of  women.  They  make  up 
nearly  fifty-eight  per  cent  of  the  total  working  group  and 


65]  FACTORS  AFFECTING  WAGES  65 

they  have  a  chance  at  the  better-paid  occupations.  In  New 
York,  on  the  other  hand,  the  preference  of  Jews  for  the 
men's  ready-made  clothing  industry,  added  to  the  fact  that 
large  numbers  of  Jewish  tailors  from  Europe  have  settled 
here,  has  given  an  abundant  supply  of  male  labor  and  it 
monopolizes  the  well-paid  occupations.  Of  the  women  em- 
ployed in  this  industry  in  New  York,  about  two-thirds  were 
Italians,  only  two  per  cent  of  whom  were  born  in  the  United 
States.  Jewish  women  have  found  employment  in  other 
branches  of  the  sewing  trades,  leaving  the  ready-made  cloth- 
ing to  men  and  "  to  such  women  as  are  handicapped  by 
their  ignorance  of  English,  recency  of  immigration  and 
other  causes  for  competition  in  other  trades." 

The  same  division  of  economic  function  restricts  the  op- 
portunity of  girls  for  vocational  —  that  is  wage-earning — 
education.  Vocational  education  —  so-called  —  for  girls  is 
advocated  along  the  lines  of  homemaking  activities,  cooking 
and  sewing.  In  so  far  as  it  goes  beyond  these  boundaries,  it 
is  confined  to  trades  in  which  women  already  predominate. 
It  enables  them  to  take  their  place  in  a  few  occupations  with 
some  advantage  in  formal  training  over  other  girls  who  take 
up  the  same  kind  of  work.  It  is  in  no  degree  based  on 
widening  the  choice  of  vocations  beyond  what  is  custom- 
arily considered  women's  work. 

In  so  far  as  trade  education  is  a  matter  of  practical  train- 
ing within  the  industry,  employers  will  not  think  it  worth 
while  to  offer  girls  the  same  opportunities  as  boys.  Fitness 
for  the  work,  strictly  speaking,  is  not  considered.  The 
chance  that  is  offered  girls  will  be  determined  in  part  by  the 
fact  that  employers  do  not  look  upon  women  as  permanent 
wage-earners. 

From  another  standpoint,  labor  legislation  has  empha- 
sized the  same  point  of  view.  In  industrial  employment 
women's  freedom  of  contract  as  a  wage-earner  has  been  re- 


56  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [66 

peatedly  restricted  to  safeguard  her  function  as  child-bearer. 
The  number  of  hours  she  may  work,  her  exclusion  from 
employment  in  certain  industries,  the  compulsory  unemploy- 
ment periods  before  and  after  child-birth — such  measures 
have  been  enacted  by  the  legislatures  and  upheld  by  the 
courts  for  the  greater  stake  the  community  has  in  women  as 
mothers.  Although  courts  have  not  been  entirely  unan- 
imous in  this  attitude,  the  general  trend  of  judicial  opinion 
is  that  difference  of  sex  function  and  difference  of  eco- 
nomic status  afford  sufficient  justification  for  differentiating 
the  constitutional  rights  of  men  and  women  as  citizens. 

Women,  thus,  are  a  distinct  class  of  wage-earners.  They 
are  as  a  group  young  and  inexperienced,  and  hence  predom- 
inate in  the  lower  grades  of  work;  they  stay  in  industry  a 
comparatively  brief  time,  too  brief  to  reach  the  maximum 
earnings  possible  in  even  their  own  types  of  work;  they 
cannot  rely  to  any  extent  upon  a  strong  organization  to  de- 
fend or  promote  their  interests ;  and,  finally,  their  economic 
status  in  the  family,  closely  connected  as  it  is  with  their 
child-bearing  function,  contributes  a  further  restriction 
upon  their  vocational  opportunity. 

The  outcome  of  the  whole  situation  is  that  the  industrial 
employment  of  girls  becomes  subject  to  peculiar  and  dis- 
tinctive influences  that  operate  to  hold  their  wages  at  a  low 
level — lower  than  would  result  from  the  working  of  purely 
economic  forces.  Custom  and  tradition  in  themselves  dic- 
tate the  offer  of  lower  wages  to  women  than  to  men  and 
put  definite  limits  to  their  occupational  opportunity.  The 
condition  under  which  they  work  induces  its  own  psychol- 
ogy into  their  attitude.  In  the  absence  of  any  counter- 
acting influence  the  working  girl  to-day  tends  to  accept 
social  institutions  as  she  finds  them  and  adapts  herself  to 
the  restrictions  they  impose.  Her  reaction  is  in  this  event 
largely  determined  by  them.     She  will  take  low  wages  with 


6y]  FACTORS  AFFECTING  WAGES  67 

docility  and  will  struggle  with  their  inadequacy  by  resorting 
to  all  sorts  of  economies.  She  will  rely  upon  the  unpaid 
services  of  her  mother  and  the  favors  of  other  relatives  or 
friends  to  supplement  her  scanty  earnings.  Industrial 
grievances,  if  not  too  oppressive,  will  be  mitigated  by  the 
thought  of  the  release  that  marriage  will  bring,  and,  eco- 
nomically speaking,  her  future  will  be  bound  up  with  a 
chance  to  marry  well  rather  than  with  advancement  in  the 
factory. 

No  argument  is  needed  to  demonstrate  the  danger  to  gen- 
eral wage  standards  that  inheres  in  such  a  class  of  workers — 
a  class,  be  it  noted,  that  is  rapidly  enlarging  its  boundaries 
in  modern  machine  industry.  Various  agencies  are  at  work 
to  combat  this  danger.  In  the  following  chapters  it  is  my 
purpose  to  outline  what  seem  to  me  the  most  important  of 
these  agencies  and  to  attempt  their  evaluation  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  peculiar  influences  to  which  the  wages  of 
women  are  subject. 


CHAPTER  IV 
Minimum  Wage  Legislation  :  Its  Scope  and  Character 

In  the  past  few  years,  minimum  wage  legislation  has 
rapidly  come  to  the  fore  in  this  country  as  a  solution  of  the 
problem  of  women's  wages.  The  movement  may  be  dated 
from  the  enactment  of  a  minimum-wage  law  in  Massachu- 
setts, June  4,  1 91 2,  which  went  into  effect  July  1,  10,13^ 
During  191 3,  eight  other  states  passed  similar  legislation — 
Utah  (May  13),  Oregon  (June  2),  Washington  (June  13), 
Minnesota  (June  26),  Nebraska  (July  17),  Wisconsin 
(August  1),  California  (August  10),  and  Colorado  (Au- 
gust 12).  On  March  25,  191 5,  a  minimum-wage  law  went 
into  effect  in  Arkansas,  and  on  May  22,  in  Kansas. 

The  spread  of  the  movement  met  a  check  when  its  con- 
stitutionality was  questioned  by  F.  C.  Stettler,  of  Port- 
land, Oregon,  who  on  this  ground  brought  suit  in  October 
1 914,  against  the  Industrial  Welfare  Commission  to  re- 
strain the  commission  from  carrying  out  the  provisions  ol 
the  act.  Having  lost  his  suit  in  the  circuit  court  by  a  de- 
cision rendered  in  November,  191 3,  Stettler  appealed  tc 
the  state  supreme  court,  but  with  no  more  success.  Oi 
/March  17,  19 14,  the  court  handed  down  a  decision  up 
holding  the  constitutionality  of  the  law.  Following  thi 
decision,  Miss  Elmira  Simpson,  an  employee  of  Mr.  Stett 
ler,  brought  suit  against  the  commission.  She  alleged  tha 
its  rulings  would  deprive  her  of  the  right  to  work.  Agaii 
the  circuit  and  the  state  supreme  courts  upheld  the  law 
Then  both  cases  were  appealed  to  the  United  States  Su 
68  [68 


69]  MINIMUM  WAGE  LEGISLATION  69 

preme  Court.  The  first  argument  was  made  in  December. 
1 1914,  but  before  a  decision  had  been  rendered  changes  in 
the  personnel  of  the  court  made  necessary  a  re-argument, 
and  it  was  not  until  April  9,  191 7,  that  the  decision  was 
announced  which  upheld  the  constitutionality  of  the  Ore- 
gon law.1 

In  the  meantime,  Massachusetts  was  the  only  state  where 
the  legislation  already  enacted  was  extended  continuously. 
The  Massachusetts  law  provides  for  the  successive  investi- 
gation of  individual  industries;  and  accordingly  wage  de- 
terminations have  been  made  for  some  six  industries,  apply- 
ing to  workers  in  women's  clothing  factories,  in  the  brush, 
corset,  and  candy  trades,  in  laundries  and  in  retail  stores. 
But  in  some  states  having  more  drastic  legislation  than 
Massachusetts  the  wage  laws  remained  for  the  most  part 
inactive.  In  others  they  were  deferred  by  legal  processes. 
In  Minnesota,  all  the  awards  of  the  Industrial  Commission 
were  held  up  by  a  court  injunction.  In  Arkansas,  the  law 
was  declared  unconstitutional  by  a  lower  court,  and  the 
State  Supreme  Court,  to  which  the  case  was  appealed,  de- 
cided to  reserve  judgment  until  the  Federal  Supreme  Court 
should  hand  down  its  decision." 

All  this  uncertainty  which  checked  the  enforcement  of  the 
law  arrested  also  the  effort  to  extend  it  to  other  states. 
Investigating  commissions  had  been  at  work  in  Connecticut, 
Indiana,  Michigan,  New  York  and  Ohio,  but  their  activity 
resulted  only  in  recommendations  that  were  not  enacted 
into  law. 

The  minimum-wage  laws  at  present  on  the  statute  books 
are  of  three  distinct  types.     There  is  the  law  embodying  a 

1  Since  this  decision,  minimum  wage  legislation  has  been  enacted  in 
Arizona  and  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 

2  Shortly  after  the  decision  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  the 
Arkansas  Supreme  Court  declared  the  state  minimum-wage  legislation 
constitutional. 


7Q  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [70 

specific  minimum  wage  which  has  been  definitely  fixed  by 
the  legislature.  This  exists  in  two  states,  Utah  and  Ar- 
kansas.1 In  Utah  the  act  simply  states  that 
it  shall  be  unlawful  for  any  regular  employer  of  female  work- 
ers in  the  State  of  Utah  to  pay  any  woman  (female)  less  than 
the  wage  in  this  section  specified,  to  wit:  For  minors,  under 
the  age  of  18  years,  not  less  than  75  cents  per  day ;  for  adult 
learners  and  apprentices,  not  less  than  90  cents  per  day  .  .  . 
for  adults  who  are  experienced  in  the  work  they  are  employed 
to  perform,  not  less  than  1.25  per  day.2 

In  Arkansas,  the  act  sptcifies  a  wage  of  $1.25  a  day  for 
experienced  adults  in  the  employ  of  express  and  transpor- 
tation companies  and  in  manufacturing  and  mechanical 
pursuits,  mercantile  establishments  and  laundries.  The  law 
also  provides  a  minimum-wage  commission  which  has  power 
to  make  any  readjustments  in  this  rate  that  may  be  neces- 
sary to  make  it  conform  to  the  requirements  of  the  neces- 
sary cost  of  living  or  the  maintenance  of  health  and  wel- 
fare. 

There  is  a  second  type  under  which  an  administrative 
authority,  the  minimum-wage  commission,  fixes  the  mini- 
mum wage  upon  the  recommendation  of  advisory  wage 
boards  made  up  of  employers,  employees  and  the  public. 
The  only  power  of  enforcement  lies  in  the  right  of  the 
commission  to  publish  the  names  of  those  employers  paying 
less  than  the  minimum  rate.  This  type  exists  in  only  two 
states,  Massachusetts  and  Nebraska. 

In  the  third  type,  the  minimum  wage  is  determined  also 
by  a  wage  commission  guided  by  an  advisory  wage  board 
of  employers,  employees  and  the  public,  but  the  wage  com- 
mission is  given  powers  of  enforcement,  and  a  penalty  of 

1  Arizona  also  has  a  statutory  rate  of  wages  of  $10  a  week  for  all 
females. 

2  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics.     Bulletin  no.  167,  p.  205. 


j I ]  MINIMUM  WAGE  LEGISLATION  yl 

fine  or  imprisonment,  or  both,  is  provided  for  the  violation 
of  the  law.  This  type  exists  in  six  states  —  California, 
Colorado,  Kansas,  Oregon,  Washington  and  Wisconsin. 

The  wage  commission  is  appointed  by  the  governor.  It 
usually  consists  of  three  persons,  one  of  whom  is  a  woman, 
and  generally  represents  the  employer,  employee  and  the 
public.  Arkansas  provides  that  the  commission  shall  con- 
sist of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor  and  Statistics  and  two 
competent  women.  California  and  Washington  each  have 
a  commission  of  five  members.  One  of  the  commission  in 
California  must  be  a  woman.  The  Washington  commission 
consists  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor  and  four  disinter- 
ested citizens.  Nebraska  has  a  commission  of  four  mem- 
bers, consisting  of  the  governor,  Deputy  Commissioner  of 
Labor,  a  professor  of  political  economy  in  the  state  univer- 
sity, and  one  other  citizen  of  the  state.  One  of  these  must 
be  a  woman.  As  a  rule,  the  commissioners  serve  without 
salary.  Their  only  pecuniary  compensation  is  for  expenses 
incurred  during  the  discharge  of  their  duties.  In  Arkansas, 
no  compensation  of  any  kind  is  specified.  In  California  and 
Massachusetts,  commissioners  are  paid  $10  and  their  ex- 
penses for  each  day  of  actual  service.  These  commissions 
may  engage  secretaries  and  other  assistants.  The  right  to 
engage  a  secretary  is  also  given  to  Oregon  and  Washington 
commissions,  where  only  expenses  are  allowed  to  the  com- 
missioners. 

These  commissions  have  broad  powers  of  investigation 
into  all  occupations  in  which  women  and  minors  are  em- 
ployed. Their  authority  includes  in  all  cases  the  determina- 
tion of  minimum  wages,  but  it  usually  goes  further  and  ex- 
tends to  hours  and  other  conditions  of  labor  affecting  health 
and  safety.  Original  inquiry  depends  in  all  cases  upon  their 
initiative.  They  may  subpoena  witnesses,  administer  oaths 
and  examine  books.     Their  rulings  are  subject  to  court  re- 


-0  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [72 

/■* 

view,  but  merely  on  questions  of  law.  Under  certain  cir- 
cumstances their  rulings  may  be  set  aside  if  the  court  holds 
that  they  are  unlawful  or  unreasonable.  This  may  also 
happen,  as  in  Massachusetts  and  Nebraska,  if  compliance 
would  prevent  a  "reasonable  profit"  or  would  endanger 
the  prosperity  of  the  business.1 

In  every  state  the  law  applies  to  women  and  girls,  and  in 
all  except  two,  Utah  and  Arkansas,  it  applies  to  male  minors. 
Every  industry  employing  these  classes  of  workers  is  in- 
cluded within  its  scope 

The  guiding  principle  in  the  determination  of  adequate 
earnings  is  the  "  living  wage ".  In  California,  Kansas, 
Minnesota,  Oregon,  Washington  and  Wisconsin,  this  is  the 
sole  basis  in  fixing  minimum  rates  of  wages.  The  Indus- 
trial Welfare  Commission  of  California  has  power  to  fix  a 
wage  to  be  paid  to  women  and  minors  in  any  occupation, 
trade,  or  industry  "  which  shall  not  be  less  than  a  wage 
adequate  to  supply  to  such  women  and  minors  the  neces- 
sary cost  of  proper  living  and  to  maintain  the  health  and 
welfare  of  such  women  and  minors."  The  Minnesota 
Commission  is  authorized  to  determine  the  minimum  wage 
sufficient  for  living  wages  for  women  and  minors  of  ordi- 
nary ability."  Oregon,  Washington  and  Kansas  make  it 
unlawful  to  employ  women  in  any  occupation  for  wages 

1  According  to  the  Massachusetts  law  "  an  employer  who  files  a  de- 
claration under  oath  in  the  supreme  judicial  court  or  superior  court 
to  the  effect  that  compliance  with  the  recommendation  of  the  com- 
mission would  render  it  impossible  for  him  to  conduct  his  business  at 
a  reasonable  profit  shall  be  entitled  to  a  review  of  said  recommenda- 
tion by  the  court  under  the  rules  of  equity  procedure.  The  burden 
of  proving  the  averment  of  said  declaration  shall  be  upon  the  com- 
plainant. If  after  such  review,  the  court  shall  find  the  averments  of 
the  declaration  to  be  sustained,  it  may  issue  an  order  restraining  the 
commission  from  publishing  the  name  of  the  complainant  as  one  who 
refuses  to  comply  with  the  recommendations  of  the  commission." — 
Act  of  1912,  Chapter  706. 


73]  MINIMUM  WAGE  LEGISLATION  73 

inadequate  to  supply  the  "  necessary  cost  of  living  and 
maintain  them  in  health."  Arkansas  fixes  a  statutory  rate 
of  wages  and  charges  the  Minimum  Wage  Commission 
with  making  it  conform  to  "  the  necessary  cost  of  living  " 
and  the  "  maintenance  of  health  and  welfare."  Wisconsin 
formulates  the  principle  most  explicitly.  "The  term  '  living 
wage,'  "  says  the  Wisconsin  act,  "  shall  mean  compensation 
for  labor  .  .  .  sufficient  to  enable  the  employee  receiving  it 
to  maintain  herself  under  conditions  consistent  with  her 
welfare,"  and  "  the  term  '  welfare  '  shall  mean  and  include 
reasonable  comfort,  reasonable  physical  well-being,  decency, 
and  moral  well-being."  The  same  principle  is  embodied  in 
the  laws  of  Massachusetts,  Nebraska,  and  Colorado.  In 
these  states,  however,  wage  boards  must  take  into  account 
not  only  the  needs  of  the  employees  but  also  "  the  financial 
condition  of  the  occupation  and  the  probable  effect  thereon 
of  any  increase  in  the  minimum  wage  paid." 

Most  of  the  minimum-wage  laws  provide  for  exceptional 
classes  of  workers.  In  all  the  states  but  Arkansas  and  Utah 
exceptions  to  the  minimum-wage  rates  are  made  for  defec- 
tives. This  is  usually  regulated  by  providing  for  a  special 
license  to  women  who  are  "physically  defective  or  crippled  by 
age  or  otherwise."  Minnesota  safeguards  against  the  abuse 
of  their  rule  by  requiring  that  the  number  of  such  licensed 
persons  shall  not  exceed  one-tenth  of  the  whole  number  of 
workers  in  any  establishment.  California  requires  that  the 
license  shall  be  renewed  semi-annually.  In  most  of  the 
minimum-wage  laws  exceptions  are  also  made  for  learners 
and  apprentices.  In  Arkansas,  a  worker  is  deemed  experi- 
enced after  six  months'  employment.  In  Washington,  the 
Industrial  Welfare  Commission  fixes  a  time-limit  for  the 
special  license  issued  to  apprentices.  In  Wisconsin,  it  is  re- 
quired that  minors  be  divided  into  two  groups  according  to 
the  character  of  the  occupation  in  which  they  engage.     If 


-4  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [74 

employed  in  a  "  trade  industry  "—that  is,  an  industry  "  in- 
volving physical  labor  and  characterized  by  mechanical  skill 
and  training  such  as  render  a  period  of  instruction  reason- 
ably necessary"  —  they  are  indentured  for  the  period  of 
their  apprenticeship  and  special  wage  rates  are  fixed  for 
them.  Those  not  employed  in  trade  industries  receive 
special  licenses  to  work  for  less  than  minimum  rates  while 
they  are  minors. 

The  power  to  enforce  the  law  varies.  With  the  exception 
of  Massachusetts  and  Nebraska,  the  commissions  may  in- 
flict penalties  of  fines  or  imprisonment,  and  in  some  instances 
both,  for  violations  of  their  decrees.  Fines  range  from  $25 
to  $100  for  each  violation,  and  imprisonment  may  be  from 
ten  days  to  three  months.  Two  states,  Wisconsin  and  Min- 
nesota, fix  a  minimum  fine  of  $10.  California,  on  the  other 
hand,  makes  the  minimum  $50.  Only  four  states — Califor- 
nia, Colorado,  Minnesota  and  Oregon — provide  the  possible 
additional  penalty  of  imprisonment.  California  and  Minne- 
sota fix  a  maximum  period  of  imprisonment  at  thirty  days 
and  sixty  days,  respectively.  In  Massachusetts  and  Ne- 
braska the  enforcement  of  the  law  practically  depends  upon 
the  willingness  of  the  employer  to  accept  the  decree  of  the 
wage  commission.  The  procedure  following  a  decision  of 
the  commission  is  the  publication  of  a  summary  of  its  find- 
ings and  of  its  recommendations  in  at  least  one  newspaper 
in  each  county  of  the  commonwealth.  The  commission  is 
also  required  "  at  such  times  and  in  such  manner  as  it  shall 
deem  advisable  "  to  publish  "  the  facts,  as  it  may  find  them 
to  be,  as  to  the  acceptance  of  its  recommendations  by  the 
employers  engaged  in  the  industry  to  which  any  of  its  rec- 
ommendations relate,  and  may  publish  the  names  of  em- 
ployers whom  it  finds  to  be  following  or  refusing  to  follow 
such  recommendations."  But  if  the  court  set  aside  the 
ruling  of  the  commission,  as  is  provided  when  an  employer 


75]  MINIMUM  WAGE  LEGISLATION  75 

shows  that  compliance  would  make  it  impossible  for  him  to 
conduct  his  business  at  a  reasonable  profit,  the  commission 
is  then  restrained  from  "  publishing  the  name  of  the  com- 
plainant as  one  who  refuses  to  comply  with  the  recommen- 
dations of  the  commission."  Under  these  circumstances  it 
is  clear  that  when  a  wage  ruling  must  take  into  considera- 
tion the  "  financial  condition  of  the  business,"  no  effective 
enforcement  of  the  law  can  be  obtained  if  employers  choose 
to  oppose  it. 

In  order  to  safeguard  the  employee  who  may  give  testi- 
mony in  any  investigation  or  proceeding  relative  to  the  en- 
forcement of  the  law,  minimum-wage  laws  usually  make  it 
a  penal  offense  for  an  employer  to  discharge  or  to  discrim- 
inate in  any  way  against  any  employee  because  such  em- 
ployee has  testified  or  is  about  to  testify,  or  because  the 
employer  believes  that  the  employee  may  testify  in  any  such 
investigation  or  proceeding.  The  penalty  is  from  $25  to 
$100  for  each  offense. 

With  the  exception  of  Arkansas  and  Nebraska,  state 
legislatures  have  made  appropriations  for  the  work  of  mini- 
mum wage  commissions.  In  two  states,  Colorado  and  Wis- 
consin, the  appropriation  is  included  in  the  general  fund  for 
the  Industrial  Commission.  In  the  others,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  Massachusetts,  a  definite  sum,  from  $3,000  to  $15,- 
000,  is  annually  provided.  In  Massachusetts  the  sum  pro- 
vided varies  from  year  to  year. 

American  experiments  with  minimum-wage  legislation 
have  had  the  benefit  of  the  experience  of  the  Australasian 
States  and  Great  Britain.  New  Zealand  was  the  first  to 
enact  a  law  providing  a  means  for  fixing  a  legal  minimum 
wage.  It  was  embodied  in  the  Industrial  Conciliation  and 
Arbitration  Act  of  1894,  which  was  primarily  a  compulsory 
arbitration  act  for  the  prevention  and  settlement  of  strikes 
and  lockouts.    The  machinery  for  the  administration  of  the 


75  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [76 

law  consists  of  industrial  courts  which  have  jurisdiction  in 
their  respective  districts  over  all  working  conditions,  in- 
cluding questions  of  wages.  These  courts  have  no  power 
to  start  proceedings  and  they  take  no  cognizance  of  indus- 
trial conditions  until  disputes  arise  and  are  referred  to  them. 
A  different  system  was  adopted  by  Victoria,  which  was  the 
next  to  follow  New  Zealand's  example  of  regulating  wages. 
In  1896,  Victoria  enacted  legislation  providing  for  wages 
boards  consisting  of  employers  and  employees  in  six  spec- 
ially sweated  trades.  Since  then  the  system  of  wages  boards 
has  been  gradually  extended  to  practically  all  the  industries 
in  Victoria.  Each  trade  or  industry  has  its  own  board,  and 
these  boards  take  the  initiative  in  determining  wages  and 
other  conditions  of  employment  within  the  industry.  At  the 
present  time,  all  the  Australian  states  and  the  Common- 
wealth itself  have  provided  for  minimum-wage  legislation 
founded  on  a  combination  of  wages  boards  and  industrial 
courts — i.  e.,  a  combination  of  the  original  system  in  New 
Zealand  and  Victoria.  These  pioneer  states  have  modified 
their  early  legislation  so  that  New  Zealand  now  has  vir- 
tually a  system  of  wages  boards  added  to  the  industrial 
courts,  and  Victoria  has  a  court  of  industrial  appeals  which 
may  review  the  determinations  of  wages  boards. 

The  laws  of  the  different  states  vary  with  respect  to  the 
definite  establishment  of  a  living  wage  as  the  guide  in  wage 
decisions.  In  a  number  of  the  states — Victoria,  New  South 
Wales,  South  Australia  and  Western  Australia  —  the  law 
specifies  for  the  guidance  of  the  court  that  it  shall  endeavor 
to  secure  a  living  wage  to  employees.  The  laws  of  South 
and  Western  Australia  are  most  explicit  in  this  respect. 
The  latter  state  provides  that  "  no  minimum  rate  of  wages 
or  other  remuneration  shall  be  prescribed  which  is  not  suffi- 
cient to  enable  the  average  worker  to  whom  it  applies  to 
live  in  reasonable  comfort,  having  regard  to  any  domestic 


77]  MINIMUM  WAGE  LEGISLATION  yy 

obligations  to  which  such  average  worker  would  ordinarily 
be  subject."  x  Where  the  law  does  not  provide  specifically 
that  the  wage  must  be  a  living  wage,  as  in  New  Zealand  or 
in  the  Federal  law  of  Australia,  "  the  living  wage "  is 
usually  accepted  as  the  basis  in  wage  determinations  and 
awards,  and  above  that  various  rates  are  fixed  for  the  sev- 
eral occupations  coming  under  the  jurisdiction  of  a  board, 
according  to  skill."  2 

It  is  a  noteworthy  feature  of  all  the  Australian  and  New 
Zealand  practise  that  wage  rates  throughout  the  industry 
are  fixed  for  both  skilled  and  unskilled  labor.  A  second 
distinct  feature  is  that  wages  are  fixed  for  both  men  and 
women.  With  the  exception  of  Western  Australia,  all  the 
Australasian  States  have,  in  addition  to  the  other  wage  reg- 
ulations, statutory  rates  below  which  no  worker  may  be  em- 
ployed. These  laws  are  essentially  child-labor  laws.  "  A 
special  reason  for  their  enactment  was  to  prevent  the  em- 
ployment of  children  or  apprentices  without  any  wage  or  at 
a  premium,  as  was  often  done  under  the  pretense  of  teach- 
ing the  trade."  3 

The  first  extension  of  minimum-wage  legislation  to  coun- 
tries outside  the  Australasian  group  was  made  in  Great 
Britain  in  the  Trade  Boards  Act  of  1909.  This  act  was 
modeled  on  the  Victorian  system  of  wages  boards  and  ap- 
plied, as  did  the  original  Victorian  Act,  to  a  few  especially 
sweated  trades.  The  trade  boards,  as  they  are  called  in 
England,  are  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Board  of  Trade, 
which  is  in  some  respects  similar  to  the  industrial  courts  of 
New  Zealand  and  Australia.  For  its  legislative  orders  the 
Board  of  Trade  is  in  turn  responsible  to  Parliament,  which 
must   confirm,   and  may  amend   or  repeal   its   provisional 

1  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  op.  cit.,  p.  167. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  114. 

3  Ibid.,  p.  7. 


-g  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [78 

orders.  Under  the  Act  of  1909,  the  Board  of  Trade  was 
empowered  to  appoint  trade  boards  in  the  ready-made  and 
wholesale  bespoke  tailoring,  paper-box  making,  machine- 
made  lace,  and  net  finishing  and  mending  or  darning  opera- 
tions of  lace-curtain  finishing,  and  hammered  and  dollied  or 
tommied  chainmaking.  In  addition,  the  Board  of  Trade 
had  the  authority  to  make  a  provisional  order  applying  the 
act  to  any  other  specified  trade  if  they  were  satisfied  that 
the  rate  of  wages  prevailing  in  any  branch  of  the  trade  were 
exceptionally  low,  as  compared  with  other  employments, 
and  that  "  the  other  circumstances  of  the  trade  "  made  it 
expedient  to  apply  the  act.  In  191 3  four  additional  trades 
were  brought  under  the  act  and  the  Board  of  Trade  has 
taken  steps  to  extend  it  further. 

The  act  is  administered  through  trade  boards  consisting 
of  an  equal  number  of  members  representing  employers  and 
employees  together  with  a  smaller  number  of  members  who 
are  not  connected  with  the  trade.  These  trade  boards  which 
have  jurisdiction  over  the  entire  industry  in  Great  Britain 
are  aided  by  local  committees,  also  representative  of  em- 
ployers, employees  and  the  public.  The  time  or  piece  rates 
fixed  by  these  groups  may  apply  to  the  whole  trade,  or  to 
any  special  process,  or  to  any  special  class  of  workers  or  to 
any  special  area.  No  reference  is  made  to  the  living  wage 
as  a  basic  principle  in  wage  determination.  The  act  is  essen- 
tially an  anti-sweating  measure — a  means  of  raising  wages 
where  they  are  "  exceptionally  low "  as  compared  with 
other  employments,  and  it  applies  to  both  men  and  women. 
When  a  minimum  rate  of  wages  has  been  made  obligatory, 
a  fine  of  not  more  than  twenty  pounds  for  each  offense  is 
the  penalty  for  its  violation. 

Into  French  legislation,  the  principle  of  a  minimum  wage 
was  introduced  in  1913.  A  bill  was  passed  providing  for  a 
compulsory  minimum  wage  for  women  home  workers  in  the 


79]  MINIMUM  WAGE  LEGISLATION  yg 

clothing  industry,  including  hats,  shoes,  lingerie,  embroi- 
deries, laces,  plumes  and  artificial  flowers.  The  act  is  ad- 
ministered by  the  local  labor  councilors,  or,  in  their  absence, 
by  the  local  courts. 

The  law  here,  as  in  Great  Britain,  seems  to  be  designed, 
not  primarily  to  secure  a  living  wage,  but  to  protect  the 
workers  in  conspicuously  underpaid  work.  The  minimum 
wage  shall  be  fixed  "  in  such  a  manner  that  it  shall  in  no 
instance  be  less  than  two-thirds  of  the  usual  wage  paid  for 
the  same  occupation  to  female  workers  employed  in  shops ;" 
or  "in  localities  where  home-work  exists  exclusively,  the 
wage  received  by  female  day  laborers  or  that  of  female 
workers  employed  at  the  same  occupation  in  other  com- 
parable localities  shall  be  taken  as  a  basis."  l  This  minimum 
wage  serves  as  a  basis  for  judgments  by  the  industrial 
courts  in  wage  disputes  submitted  to  them.  At  least  once  in 
every  three  years  it  must  be  revised  by  the  labor  councilors. 
The  law  applies  also  to  men  if  they  perform  at  home  the 
same  work  as  female  workers  and  receive  a  lower  wage 
than  the  minimum  determined  for  women.  Under  such  cir- 
cumstances they  may  request  the  labor  councilors  or  the  in- 
dustrial courts  to  apply  the  same  wages  to  them. 

So  much,  then,  have  the  various  countries  accomplished 
in  minimum-wage  legislation.  This  review  of  minimum 
wage  legislation  should  make  it  clear  that  there  is  no  one 
fixed  way  of  setting  rates  of  pay.  The  large  degree  of  varia- 
tion indicates  that  such  legislation  is  still  in  the  experimental 
stage,  and  it  is  too  soon  to  say  just  what  is  the  most  effec- 
tive machinery  for  its  operation. 

The  greatest  uniformity  of  wage  laws  lies  in  the  emphasis 
upon  the  living  wage  as  the  minimum  compensation  an 
employer  is  permitted  to  pay.  The  only  exceptions  are  in 
the  English  and  French  legislation  where  the  primary  pur- 

1  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  op.  cit.,  p.  185. 


gQ  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [80 

pose  is  to  raise  the  level  of  wages  in  exceptionally  low-paid 
work;  and  in  those  commonwealths  of  the  United  States 
where,  in  fixing  the  wage,  the  financial  condition  of  the 
business  is  taken  into  account.  Historically,  the  tendency 
has  been  clearly  in  the  direction  of  establishing  a  living  wage 
in  industry  as  the  basic  wage,  as  the  absolute  minimum 
below  which  rates  must  not  fall.  The  more  recent 
legislation  in  the  United  States  specifies  this  distinctly, 
and  the  judicial  interpretation  of  the  law  in  Australia 
and  in  New  Zealand  has  confirmed  the  principle  until 
at  present  it  is  beyond  dispute.  Wage  laws  are  also 
unified  in  that  wage  rates  usually  represent  the  outcome  of 
discussion  between  employers,  employees  and  the  public. 
The  consideration  shown  for  these  three  factors  in  the  wage 
question  is  a  very  conspicuous  feature  of  minimum-wage 
legislation.  Proper  investigation  of  the  prevailing  rates  of 
wages,  careful  examination  of  the  respective  claims  of  all 
parties  interested,  and  safeguards  against  hasty  or  preju- 
diced action  are  universally  secured. 

Perhaps  the  most  striking  difference  between  minimum- 
wage  legislation  in  the  United  States  and  in  all  other  coun- 
tries is  in  its  scope.  Everywhere  except  in  the  United 
States  minimum-wage  laws  apply  to  men  as  well  as  to 
women.  Resting  as  they  do  on  the  principle  of  establishing 
a  living  wage  as  the  point  in  the  wage  scale  below  which 
rates  may  not  fall,  there  is  no  logical  reason  for  fixing  it 
only  for  women.  If  the  principle  is  sound  for  women's 
wages,  it  is  also  sound  for  men's.  However  this  may  be, 
in  the  United  States  the  minimum-wage  movement  has  been 
connected  with  the  question  of  wages  not  primarily  as  a 
labor  problem  but  as  a  sex  problem. 


CHAPTER  V 

The  Argument  for  and  against  Minimum-Wage 
Legislation 

Minimum-wage  laws  are  the  latest  addition  to  a  series 
of  regulations  that  specify  the  conditions  under  which 
women  and  children  may  be  employed  in  industrial  work. 
In  all  but  six  of  our  American  states,  the  number  of  hours 
that  a  woman  may  work  either  in  any  one  day  or  week,  or 
in  both,  is  fixed  by  law.  Some  states  prohibit  the  employ- 
ment of  women  at  night;  some  exclude  them  from  certain 
processes  or  occupations ;  quite  generally  some  sort  of  stat- 
utory provision  is  made  for  their  comfort  and  health 
through  various  sanitary  and  safety  measures.  Now  to 
these  regulations  affecting  "  the  environmental  conditions 
of  labor  "  is  added  the  regulation  affecting  the  value  of 
labor — "  the  center  and  heart  of  the  labor  contract." 

The  preamble  of  the  Oregon  minimum-wage  law  im- 
plicitly states  the  underlying  object  of  this  type  of  legisla- 
tion as  follows :  "  The  welfare  of  the  state  of  Oregon  re- 
quires that  women  and  minors  should  be  protected  from 
conditions  of  labor  which  have  a  pernicious  effect  on  their 
health  and  morals,  and  inadequate  wages  .  .  .  have  such  a 
pernicious  effect."  Some  of  the  detailed  evidence  on  this 
point  has  already  been  presented  in  discussing  the  relation 
of  wages  to  the  cost  of  living.  The  widespread  existence  of 
a  constant  deficit  between  weekly  wages  and  the  cost  of 
living  threatens  the  physical  well-being  of  individual  women, 
and  through  them  the  coming  generation.  Standards  of 
81]  81 


g2  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [82 

morality  are  undermined  and  the  whole  plane  of  life  is 
lowered. 

To  guard,  then,  against  the  "  pernicious  effect "  of  low 
wages,  certain  states  have  fixed  a  minimum  rate  of  pay- 
based  upon  the  necessary  cost  of  living.  They  have  thrown 
out  to  industry  the  challenge  that  it  shall  be  conducted  on  a 
sound  social  basis.  It  must  not  exist  at  the  expense  of  the 
vigor,  health  or  morality  of  its  employees.  Nor  must  it 
leave  its  employees  to  rely  upon  assistance  from  incomes 
received  in  better-paid  occupations.  An  industry  that  pays 
its  worker*  less  than  a  living  wage  is  a  positive  detriment 
to  the  community  against  which  the  community  protects 
itself  by  erecting  a  standard  of  wages  for  industry  to  ob- 
serve as  a  condition  of  its  survival. 

Broadly  speaking,  the  failure  of  industry  to  pay  a  living 
wage  may  be  traced  to  a  lack  of  bargaining  power  in  the 
workers  and  to  inefficient  management  on  the  part  of  the 
employers.  Under  the  present  system  of  wag^e  payment  the 
weakness  of  women's  bargaining  power  may  be  inferred 
from  the  very  nature  of  the  work  they  do.  For  it  is  a  field 
in  which  the  supply  of  labor  is  always  relatively  abundant 
and  most  difficult  to  organize  for  collective  action.  Boys 
and  girls  just  out  of  the  elementary  schools,  immigrants 
with  no  industrial  training,  young  women,  and  older  ones 
too,  forced  to  earn  a  living  and  with  no  preparation  for  it — 
all  these  fill  the  ranks  of  the  unskilled  worker.  As  far  as 
the  work  is  concerned,  one  worker  is  likely  to  be  as  com- 
petent as  another ;  each  may  be  considered  as  the  rival  of  the 
other  throughout  the  range  of  unskilled  occupations.  To 
the  employer  the  most  important  question  is  "  which  will 
do  it  the  more  cheaply,"  and  in  the  matter  of  individual 
bargaining  his  strategic  position  is  generally  admitted. 

Moreover,  as  we  have  pointed  out  in  a  previous  chapter, 
women  workers  are  a  constantly  shifting  group.     Their 


83]  THE  MINIMUM  WAGE  CONTROVERSY  83 

wage-earning  years  coincide,  as  a  rule,  with  the  later  years 
of  adolescence  when  social  activities  are  of  prime  impor- 
tance. In  these  the  young  girl's  interest  naturally  centers. 
For  through  them  she  not  only  satisfies  the  universal  in- 
stinct for  recreation  and  amusement,  but  she  also  finds  the 
opportunity  for  marriage  that  ends  her  wage-earning  days, 
or  at  least  is  supposed  to  do  so.  What  can  be  said  of  the 
bargaining  power  of  the  individual  in  such  a  group  of 
young,  inexperienced,  untrained,  shifting  workers  whose 
wage  work  is  regarded  by  themselves  and  every  one  else  as 
something  to  be  done  in  the  years  between  leaving  school 
and  getting  married?  How  can  it  possibly  match  that  of 
business  men  "  whose  livelihood  consists  to  a  great  measure 
in  bargaining  and  who  obtain  information  as  to  the  condi- 
tion and  prospects  of  industry  in  the  ordinary  course  of 
their  every-day  occupation  "  ?  1  Obviously  under  such  cir- 
cumstances the  employer  may  practically  dictate  the  wage 
rate.  To  the  degree  that  competition  for  work  is  active 
among  the  employees,  wages  will  tend  to  the  level  of  the 
most  necessitous  or  the  most  ignorant — to  the  level  of  those 
who  for  one  reason  or  another  will  work  most  cheaply. 

Minimum-wage  legislation,  thus,  raises  the  plane  of  bar- 
gaining. It  establishes  a  basic  wage  which  must  be  paid  to 
safeguard  the  welfare  of  the  community  and  makes  this  a 
condition  of  employment.  Any  higher  wage  than  this  basic 
one  may  be  a  matter  of  bargaining,  but  at  least  a  living  wage 
becomes  a  charge  upon  industry.  If  an  industry  can  main- 
tain itself  only  by  paying  its  workers  less  than  a  living  wage, 
it  is  socially  an  unprofitable  enterprise.  Rightly  it  should 
be  forced  out  of  existence  and  an  effort  should  be  made  to 
direct  its  labor  into  more  remunerative  fields.  If  its  exist- 
ence depends  upon  increasing  ppices  to  cover  the  increased 
cost  of  labor,  consumers  must  pay  more  for  the  Commodity 

1  Tawney,  R.  H.,  Minimum  Rates  in  the  Chain-making  Industry,  p.  30. 


g4  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [84 

than  they  have  paid  before.  If  they  are  unwilling  to  do  this, 
either  because  they  can  use  a  substitute  or  because  for  any 
other  reason  it  is  worth  no  more  to  them  than  they  have 
been  paying  for  it,  such  an  industry  will  disappear. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  experience  with  the  fixing  of  wage 
rates  in  a  given  industry  has  shown  that  frequently  one  or 
more  establishments  already  are  paying  minimum  rates. 
Others  are  able  to  adjust  their  business  to  the  new  basis  of 
labor  cost.  It  is  this  fact  that  points  to  the  prime  impor- 
tance of  business  organization  and  management  as  a  factor 
in  wage  payment.  As  we  have  seen,  establishments  in  the 
same  industry  working  side  by  side  in  the  same  locality 
under  the  same  competitive  conditions  pay  widely  different 
rates  of  wages.  What  is  the  explanation?  The  writer 
shares  the  belief  that  it  is  largely  to  be  found  in  the  factors 
of  organization  and  management.  The  legal  provision  that 
wages  shall  not  fall  below  a  certain  minimum  forces  atten- 
tion to  these  factors  as  no  other  measure  of  social  legislation 
has  done.  If  all  other  things  remained  equal,  "  an  increase 
of  wages  must  necessarily  lead  to  an  increase  in  the  cost  of 
production."  But  they  do  not.  Beneficial  changes  are  made 
in  the  direction  of  efficiency.  "  The  increased  cost,  threat- 
ening a  diminution  of  profits,  acts  as  a  powerful  stimulus 
with  the  owner  or  manager  of  a  plant  who  is  anxious  to 
find  means  of  reducing  the  increased  cost,  where  he  was 
satisfied  before  to  plod  along  in  the  established  rut."  1 

In  the  brush  industry  in  Massachusetts,  for  example,  the 
wage  board  found  that  in  methods  of  remuneration  there 
were  "  many  things  which  are  burdens  both  to  employer 
and  employee,  and  employers  often  make  employees  suffer 
overmuch  from  their  own  lack  of  management."  2 

1  State  Factory  Investigating  Commission,  New  York,  Fourth  Report, 
Testimony  of  N.  I.  Stone,  p.  662. 

2  Massachusetts  Minimum  Wage  Commission.    Bulletin  no.  3,  p.  24. 


85]  THE  MINIMUM  WAGE  CONTROVERSY  85 

Piece  rates  [the  Board  stated],  are,  speaking  generally,  such 
rates  in  themselves  and  fixed  in  such  a  manner  as  to  give  the 
best  returns  neither  to  employers  nor  to  employees,  and  where 
a  large  number  of  employees  are  on  day  pay  the  concern  suffers 
even  more  than  in  piece  rate  work  from'  lack  of  adequate 
production.1 

It  is  hardly  possible  to  deny  that  low  wages  are  in  part  due 
to  mistaken  principles  of  wage  payment,  to  ignorance  of 
the  relation  between  labor  efficiency  and  wages,  and  to  the 
absence  of  a  modern  system  of  cost  accounting. 

It  is  only  recently  that  what  may  be  called  scientific  con- 
sideration has  been  given  to  the  question  of  the  cost  of  pro- 
duction, the  relation  to  it  and  to  each  other  of  the  several 
factors  of  production.  The  outcome  of  such  inquiries  as 
have  been  made  by  the  United  States  Tariff  Board,  the  Fed- 
eral Trade  Commission,  and  by  the  independent  investiga- 
tions of  efficiency  engineers  is  bound  to  revolutionize  indus- 
trial management  and  to  establish  new  tenets  for  the  prac- 
tical business  man.  One  theory  that  already  is  threatened 
seriously  is  that  the  cost  of  production  is  a  definite  sum 
fixed  chiefly  by  the  wages  paid  and  the  price  of  materials. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  findings  of  the  Tariff  Board  in  the 
paper,  woolen  and  cotton  industries  point  to  the  absence  of 
a  single  cost  of  production. 

Costs  varied  in  the  same  industry  and  in  the  same  city,  and  also 
in  the  same  plant.  ...  In  the  paper  and  pulp  industry  it  was 
found  that  the  labor  cost  of  making  a  ton  of  newsprint  paper 
in  the  United  States  varied  from  $2.19  to  $7.26  per  ton.  The 
most  remarkable  fact  about  it  was  that  mills  paying  the  lowest 
wages  and  having  a  twelve-hour  day  had  a  higher  labor  cost 
per  ton  of  paper  than  those  paying  the  highest  rate  of  wages 
and  having  an  eight-hour  day.2 

1  Massachusetts  Minimum  Wage  Commission.     Bulletin  no.  3,  pp.  24-25. 

2  State  Factory  Investigating  Commission,  New  York,  Fourth  Report, 
p.  657  et  seq. 


85  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [86 

The  explanation  is  found  in  the  difference  between  mills  in 
the  matter  of  equipment. 

Some  had  machinery  thirty  years  old,  while  others  boasted  of 
machines  with  latest  improvements.  The  older  machines  had 
a  capacity  of  17  tons  in  24  hours,  while  the  newer  machines 
could  produce  50  tons.  The  result  was  that  the  machine  cost 
of  labor  per  ton  of  paper  was  $1.84  on  the  old  machine  and 
only  82  cents  with  the  new,  the  same  rate,  of  wages  being  paid 
to  the  machine  tenders  in  each  case.1 

Other  findings  on  this  pr>int  in  the  cotton  and  woolen  in- 
dustries are  also  worth  quoting. 

Figures  obtained  direct  from  the  books  of  leading  Japanese 
mills  compared  with  similar  data  for  corresponding  mills  in 
the  United  States  led  to  the  startling  revelation  that  with  the 
superior  American  machinery  and  superior  personal  efficiency 
of  American  labor  the  American  weaver  receiving  $1.60  per 
day  was  cheaper  than  the  Japanese  weaver  at  18.5  cents  per  day. 
A  study  of  labor  efficiency  in  the  various  processes  of  wool 
manufacture  made  by  the  Tariff  Board  showed  that  almost 
invariably  the  mills  paying  higher  rates  of  wages  per  hour 
produced  goods  at  a  lower  cost  than  their  competitors  paying 
lower  wages.  Thus  in  wool  scouring  the  lowest  average 
wages  paid  to  machine  operatives  in  thirty  mills  examined  was 
found  to  be  12.15  cents  per  hour,  and  the  highest  17.79. 
Yet  the  low-wage  mill  showed  a  labor  cost  of  twenty-one  cents 
per  hundred  pounds  of  wool,  while  the  high-wage  mill  had  a 
cost  of  only  fifteen  cents.  One-half  of  the  difference  was 
accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  the  low-wage  mill  paid  nine  cents 
per  hundred  pounds  for  supervisory  labor,  such  as  foremen, 
etc.,  while  the  high  wage  mill  paid  only  six  cents.  Apparently 
well-paid  labor  needs  less  driving  and  supervising  than  low- 
paid  labor. 

In  the  carding  department  of  seventeen  worsted  mills  the 

1  State  Factory  Investigating  Commission,  op.  cit.,  p.  658. 


Sy]  THE  MINIMUM  WAGE  CONTROVERSY  87 

mill  paying  its  machine  operatives  an  average  of  13.18  cents 
per  hour  had  a  machine  labor  cost  of  four  cents  per  hundred 
pounds,  while  the  mill  paying  its  operatives  only  11.86  cents 
per  hour  had  a  cost  of  twenty-five  cents  per  hundred  pounds. 
This  was  due  largely  to  the  fact  that  the  lower-cost,  high 
wage  mill  had  machinery  enabling  every  operator  to  turn  out 
more  than  326  pounds  per  hour,  while  the  high-cost,  low-wage 
mill  was  turning  out  less  than  forty-eight  pounds  per  hour. 

The  same  tendency  was  observed  in  the  carding  departments 
of  twenty-six  woolen  mills.  The  mill  with  the  highest  machine 
output  per  man  per  hour,  namely  57.7  pounds,  had  a  machinery 
labor  cost  of  twenty-three  cents  per  hundred  pounds,  while  the 
mill  with  a  machine  output  of  only  six  pounds  per  operative 
per  hour  had  a  cost  of  $1.64  per  hundred  pounds.  Yet  this 
mill  with  a  cost  seven  times  higher  than  the  other,  paid  its 
operatives  only  9.86  cents  per  hour,  as  against  13.09  cents  paid 
by  its  more  successful  competitor. 

[These  examples  show]  that  mill  efficiency  depends  more  on 
a  liberal  use  of  the  most  improved  machinery  than  of  low 
wages.  Thoughtful  planning  in  arranging  machinery  to  save 
unnecessary  steps  to  the  employees,  careful  buying  of  raw 
material,  the  efficient  organization  and  utilization  of  the  labor 
force  in  the  mill,  systematic  watching  of  the  thousands  of 
details,  each  affecting  the  cost  of  manufacture,  will  reduce 
costs  to  an  astonishing  degree.1 

If  the  general  contention  is  sound  that  high  wages  are  ac- 
companied by  a  lower  cost  of  production,  any  movement  look- 
ing to  the  increase  of  wages  has  this  a  priori  argument  in  its 
favor.  Moreover,  if,  as  can  be  shown,  an  ascending  scale  of 
wages  marks  the  general  improvement  in  the  industrial  organ- 
ization and  business  management  between  different  countries 
and  different  times  in  the  same  country,  minimum-wage 
legislation  would  seem  to  force  business  practice  along  the 
same  line  of  progress  as  have  other  changes,  such  as  trade- 

1  State  Factory  Investigating  Commission,  op.  cit.,  pp.  660-661. 


gg  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [88 

union  demands  or  the  requirements  of  other  forms  of  legal 
regulation.  For  the  necessity  of  paying  increased  wages 
will  prompt,  to  an  unprecedented  extent,  a  challenge  of 
established  business  methods.  It  will  forcibly  urge  em- 
ployers to  conserve  their  profits  by  compensating  advan- 
tages in  some  form  of  greater  efficiency  in  production.  In 
this  respect,  as  Mr.  Webb  has  pointed  out,  the  history  of 
trade-unionism  furnishes  instructive  experience.  The  fixing 
of  a  minimum  wage  is  a  familiar  feature  of  trade-union 
policy.  The  enforcement  of  this  policy  has  led  to  the  adop- 
tion of  one  improvement  after  another  in  mechanical  pro- 
cesses. This  has  happened  so  frequently  over  such  a  long 
period  of  time  that  we  may  safely  conclude  the  enforcement 
of  a  definite  minimum  rate  of  pay  "  positively  stimulates 
the  invention  and  adoption  of  new  processes  of  manufac- 
ture." When  employers  can  no  longer  "  nibble  at  wages, 
they  are  driven  in  their  competitive  struggle  with  each 
other  to  seek  advantage  in  other  ways."  Productivity  is 
thus  at  least  maintained  and  usually  it  is  enlarged.  Further- 
more, the  practice  of  establishing  minimum  rates  in  putting 
a  premium  upon  efficient  management  tends  to  drive  out  of 
business  the  inferior  establishments  which  exist  in  every 
trade.  To  this  extent  the  productivity  of  industry  is  also 
increased. 

Also  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  wage  laws  will  stim- 
ulate productivity  by  a  more  careful  selection  of  the  em- 
ployee. 

If  the  conditions  of  employment  are  unregulated,  it  will  fre- 
quently "pay"  an  employer  (though  it  does  not  pay  the 
community  for  him  to  do  so)  not  to  select  the  best  workmen 
....  the  employer  may  (in  the  absence  of  definitely  fixed 
minimum  conditions)  make  more  profit  though  less  product, 
out  of  inefficient  workmen  than  out  of  good  workmen. 


89]  THE  MINIMUM  WAGE  CONTROVERSY  %g 

It  may  be  added  that  an  employer  may  also  make  more 
profit,  and  the  same  or  more  product,  out  of  more  efficient 
workers.  The  closer  attention  to  quality  of  labor  forced  by 
wage  legislation  promises  to  make  for  greater  productivity 
in  so  far  as  it  makes  for  the  selection  of  the  fittest  for  em- 
ployment. This  influence  is  already  seen  at  work  in  the 
discharge  of  those  not  considered  worth  the  minimum  wage. 
In  yet  another  way  minimum-wage  legislation  promises 
to  increase  productivity.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  the 
worker  who  is  paid  enough  to  secure  physical  efficiency  will 
be  for  that  very  reason  a  better  producer.  Workers  who 
are  living  on  the  plane  of  a  subnormal  standard  do  not 
have  the  same  physical  spirit  and  energy  as  those  who  can 
provide  for  at  least  the  minimum  requirements  of  reason- 
able living. 

There  is  nothing  which  makes  for  inefficiency  like  hunger, 
worry,  and  discontent.  As  a  rule,  you  can  be  sure  that  the 
underpaid  girl  is  hungry,  that  she  is  the  victim  of  nearly  con- 
tinual worry,  that  she  is  overworked  because  she  is  trying  to 
do  her  own  cooking  and  washing  as  well  as  her  work  in  the 
shop,  and  that  she  is  not  getting  the  food  and  the  care  to 
keep  her  in  condition  to  do  good  work,  even  if  her  mental 
attitude  could  be  such  as  to  inspire  it.  No  man  can  say  how 
many  of  the  girls  now  said  to  be  inefficient  and  "  not  worth  " 
the  miserable  wages  paid  would  not  be  worth  a  higher  wage  if 
they  were  paid  it.  .  .  .  If  this  sort  of  service  were  paid  for 
under  conditions  which  make  for  efficiency,  it  is  very  likely  that 
the  service  would  become  efficient  in  proportion.1 

Minimum-wage  legislation,  therefore,  establishes  a  wage 
which  should  be  a  basic  wage.  It  does  not  fix  wages  except 
in  the  sense  that  it  determines  the  lowest  point  in  the  wage 
scale.    Confident  that  industry  can  bear  it,  wage  legislation 

1  Annals,  American  Academy  Political  and  Social  Science,  vol.  xlviii, 
p.  1 8. 


go  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [90 

puts  the  responsibility  for  paying  a  living  wage  upon  private 
enterprise,  and  says,  in  brief,  to  the  employer,  "  This  is  the 
condition  on  which  you  will  be  permitted  to  conduct  your 
business."  It  rests  upon  the  same  general  principles  that 
underly  all  labor  laws,  vis.,  that  they  are  necessary  to 
equalize  the  bargaining  power  of  employer  and  employee 
and  are  vitally  connected  with  the  public  welfare. 

The  opposition  to  minimum-wage  legislation  centers  in 
its  disputed  value  as  a  means  of  increasing  wages.  There  is 
no  challenge  of  the  wage  facts.  There  is  no  evidence  to  re- 
fute the  alleged  discrepancy  between  earnings  and  the  cost 
of  maintaining  a  normal  standard  of  living.  There  is  no 
denial  that  when  wages  fall  below  a  living  standard  it  is  a 
matter  of  serious  concern  that  calls  for  remedy.  But,  say 
its  opponents,  to  provide  the  remedy  by  direct  legislative 
action  violates  the  fundamental  principles  that  determine 
wages,  and,  while  producing  greater  evils  than  it  aimed  to 
cure,  stands  in  the  way  of  measures  more  beneficial  and 
effective. 

Again  and  again  employers  have  contended  before  in- 
vestigating commissions  that  wages  are  fixed  by  the  natural 
law  of  supply  and  demand,  which  no  legislation  can  abro- 
gate.1 The  fundamental  factor  that  determines  the  rate  of 
wages  is  the  same  that  determines  the  price  of  any  com- 
modity, vis.,  the  relation  of  effective  demand  to  available 
supply.  Low  wages  indicate  an  abundance  of  labor  relative 
to  the  demand;  high  wages  indicate  a  relative  scarcity  of 
labor.  To  say,  then,  that  employers  shall  not  pay  less  than  a 
given  wage  is  to  deny  the  application  of  that  principle  of 
evaluation  that  runs  throughout  the  price-making  process. 
A  sounder  plan  and  one  in  conformity  with  "  natural  law  " 
would  seek  to  raise  wages  by  reducing  the  numbers  available 

1  State  Factory  Investigating  Commission,  New  York,  Fourth  Report, 
vol.  i,  pp.  456,  796. 


gi]  THE  MINIMUM  WAGE  CONTROVERSY  gl 

for  the  low-paid  occupations.  A  restriction  of  immigra- 
tion, for  example,  would  work  for  this  end.  The  develop- 
ment of  social  insurance  would  also  operate  in  the  same 
direction  by  protecting  the  families  of  wage-earners  against 
the  loss  of  earning  power  of  the  male  members  due  to  sick- 
ness, accident  or  unemployment.  An  improved  system  of 
public  education  would  have  a  similar  effect;  provided  em- 
phasis were  put  upon  vocational  training,  and  provided  also 
that  a  fairly  generous  policy  were  followed  of  giving  aid  to 
students  through  scholarships.  "  In  short,"  as  one  opponent 
puts  it,  "  the  way  to  raise  the  minimum  wage  and  all  other 
wages  is  not  by  an  enforced  subsidy  in  aid  of  wages,  but  by 
those  longer  and  more  difficult  methods  which  shall  make 
the  desired  result  inevitable.  We  must  learn  to  cultivate 
powers  and  not  deal  in  ready-made  results — not  to  tie  on 
the  flowers  but  to  water  the  plant."  l 

The  argument  savors  of  laissez-faire  and  an  optimistic 
reliance  upon  natural  law  which  can  be  trusted  to  bring  all 
things  right  in  the  long  run.  It  differs  radically  from  the 
principle  underlying  wage  legislation  and  all  other  factory 
legislation,  the  obligation  of  the  state  to  control  economic 
processes  as  conducted  by  private  enterprise  so  as  to  safe- 
guard the  weaker  party  to  the  wage  contract  and  to  protect 
the  general  welfare.  It  is,  in  short,  a  belated  challenge  of 
the  principles  of  liberalism. 

More  specific  opposition  has  developed  to  wage  legisla- 
tion in  the  labor  world  on  the  ground  that  it  would  weaken 
or  retard  the  trade-union  movement,  which  is  held  to  be  a 
sounder  method  of  raising  wages.  Trade-unionists  them- 
selves are  divided  on  this  point.  And  although  such  official 
organizations  as  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  and  the 
National  Women's  Trade  Union  League  have  endorsed  the 
measure,  it  is  to  be  noted  that  the  A.  F.  of  L.  approves  of 

1  Joseph  Lee  in  Survey,  Nov.  8,  1913. 


o2  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [92 

it  not  as  a  principle  of  wages  for  all  labor,  but  only  for  that 
of  women.  To  its  application  to  men  they  are  strongly  op- 
posed. A  small  minority  among  both  men  and  women 
trade-unionists  oppose  it  even  for  women.  For,  they  hold, 
the  same  reasons  that  underlie  the  opposition  to  this  meas- 
ure for  men  are  valid  also  when  women  are  considered. 
"  If,"  they  say,  "  women  need  state  protection  on  the  ground 
that  they  do  not  organize  as  men  do,  then  also  the  mass  of 
unskilled,  unorganized  men  who  do  not  appreciate  the  ad- 
vantage of  organization  need  it.  The  reasons  for  trade- 
unionists  to  oppose  the  state  interference  in  wage  rates 
apply  to  women  workers  as  they  do  to  men."  *  These 
reasons  may  be  noted  briefly.  To  begin  with,  it  is  be- 
lieved that  the  organizations  imposed  upon  unorganized 
workers  as  a  result  of  the  wage-board  system  which  requires 
representation  from  workers,  will  lack,  by  the  very  condi- 
tion of  being  imposed,  virility  and  force.     Says  one  writer : 

when  a  demand  is  made  for  a  wage  inquiry  for  the  purpose 
of  an  award  in  an  unorganized  industry,  it  does  not  come 
from  the  workers,  that  is,  not  from  their  collective  willing, 
but  from  those  interested  in  the  operation  of  the  law  as  a 
measure  of  social  improvement.  .  .  .  Everyone  who  has  had 
a  kindergarten  experience  in  the  organization  of  workers  can 
testify  that  a  superimposed  organization  never  becomes  an 
actuality,  with  character  of  its  own ;  the  force  of  a  labor  union 
is  the  collective  will  of  its  members,  and  no  concession  of  value 
is  granted  to  a  makeshift  organization  from  which  that  will 
power  is  absent.  Of  more  importance  to  labor  than  an  award 
granted  under  such  circumstances,  is  the  fact  that  a  nominal 
organization  backed  by  employers  or  friends  of  the  law,  and 
carrying  the  endorsement  of  the  state  will  effectually  stifle  free 
organization  or  even  protest.2 

1  State  Factory  Investigating  Commission,  New  York,  Fourth  Report, 
vol.  i,  p.  774. 

2  Helen  Marot  in  Unpopular  Review,  October,  1915,  pp.  397-411. 


93]  THE  MINIMUM  WAGE  CONTROVERSY  93 

To  those  who  see  the  ultimate  solution  of  industrial  prob- 
lems in  the  voluntary  and  self-initiated  organization  of  the 
wage-earners,  such  unions  as  would  be  required  by  wage 
board  would  be  but  a  mockery.  They  would  supply  a  state 
substitute  for  the  spontaneous  organization  of  labor  and 
would  result  eventually  in  a  subservience  to  state  control. 

Besides  obstructing  the  extension  of  the  regular  trade- 
union  movement  to  the  unorganized  trades,  the  action  of 
the  workers'  organizations  that  are  created  by  wage  boards 
would  tend  to  undermine  the  strength  of  the  unions  in  the 
trades  already  organized.  For,  since  the  findings  of  the 
wage  boards  are  based  upon  the  necessary  cost  of  living, 
and  since  subsistence  is  practically  the  same  for  the  un- 
skilled and  the  skilled  worker,  the  rates  fixed  by  the  wage 
boards  will  tend  to  fix  the  cost  for  all  workers.  "  When  a 
wages  board  determines  a  minimum  for  the  workers  in  one 
trade,  based  upon  the  cost  of  living,  it  determines  minima 
for  the  workers  of  the  industries  of  the  locality.  If  the  cost 
of  living  approximates  $8  a  week  for  umbrella  workers  of 
New  York  City,  so  it  does  for  the  cigar  makers,  the  glove 
workers,  and  the  milliners."  l  In  so  far  as  there  is  no 
driving  force  behind  the  wage-board  unions,  wages  will  not 
rise  above  the  minimum  rate,  and  the  final  result  will  be  a 
general  lowering  of  wage  standards  for  all  workers  to  the 
necessary  cost  of  living. 

On  the  other  hand,  equally  competent  authorities  in  the 
trade-union  movement  maintain  that  far  from  retarding  the 
progress  of  organization,  wage  legislation  will  actually  fur- 
ther it.  And,  as  has  been  said,  the  majority  of  women 
trade-unionists  support  the  measure.  Into  this  matter  we 
shall  go  further  in  our  later  detailed  discussion  of  trade- 
unionism. 

Finally,  the  opposition  to  the  minimum-wage  movement 

1  Helen  Marot,  op.  c'xt. 


o4  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [94 

rests  upon  the  opinion  that  it  would  entail  results  more  seri- 
ous than  the  evils  it  is  designed  to  cure.  That  it  would 
lead  to  unemployment  and  higher  prices ;  that  the  minimum 
wage  would  become  the  maximum ;  that  industry  could  not 
bear  the  strain,  etc.  Of  these,  perhaps  the  most  emphasized 
is  unemployment.  That  a  certain  increase  in  unemploy- 
ment may  take  place  is  frequently  conceded  by  even  the  ad- 
vocates of  wage  laws.  But,  they  maintain,  in  so  far  as  it 
is  due  solely  to  the  fact  that  an  employer  does  not  think  a 
girl  "  worth  "  the  higher  rate  of  pay,  it  will  serve  to  sep- 
arate the  inefficient  from  the  efficient,  and  special  arrange- 
ments can  be  made  for  dealing  with  them  as  a  class  of  labor. 
The  inefficient  will  no  longer  be  competing  with  the  effi- 
cient for  jobs  and  tending  to  lower  the  level  of  all  workers 
in  their  group.  But  after  all,  say  the  opponents,  low  wages 
are  better  than  no  wages.  They  scornfully  refer  to  the 
"  ioker  in  the  law  "  by  which  the  worker  is  ostensibly  bene- 
fited but  actually  injured.  "  State  wage  minima,"  they  say, 
"  are  actually  in  line  with  methods  of  modern  industrial 
development,  which  is  economy  of  labor  power,  or,  in  the 
language  of  factory  economics,  unemployment."  It  is 
claimed  that  the  result  of  such  legislation  will  be  the 

elimination  of  the  lowest  grades  of  workers  by  supplanting 
labor  power  with  machine  power,  by  exacting  a  larger  output 
per  worker,  by  speeding  up,  or  by  increased  efficiency  in  man- 
agement, or,  where  the  law  applies  to  some  workers  and  not 
to  men,  by  the  substitution  through  immigration  of  foreign 
male  labor — these  are  capital's  very  simple  and  familiar  meth- 
ods of  eluding  increased  wage  rates.  Furthermore,  the  labor 
saving  devices  that  would  inevitably  follow  state  wage  minima 
would  require  increased  capitalization  in  the  trades  affected. 
Increased  capitalization  means  business  consolidation,  and 
business  consolidation  is  in  itself  a  labor-saving  device  which 
swells  the  labor  market.1 

1  Helen  Marot,  op.  eft. 


95 ]  THE  MINIMUM  WAGE  CONTROVERSY  95 

Cogent  comment  on  the  forecast  of  unemployment  as  a 
result  of  the  minimum  wage  has  been  made  by  Mr.  R.  H. 
Tawney  in  the  case  of  the  tailoring  trade  in  England  and  is 
well  worth  quoting  here.1 

The  establishment  of  minimum  rates  of  payment  may  un- 
doubtedly involve  an  interference  with  the  vested  interests  of 
such  workters  as  are  unable  to  earn  them,  which  is  more  or  less 
serious  according  to  whether  that  class  is  large  or  small,  and 
according  to  the  level  at  which  the  rates  themselves  are  fixed. 
But  in  this  respect  the  policy  of  the  minimum  wage  does  not 
differ  from  any  other  kind  of  social  intervention,  or  indeed 
from  the  ordinary  changes  of  economic  life  which  arise  from 
the  normal  conduct  of  industry.  From  the  point  of  view  of 
the  person  who  loses  employment,  it  is  irrelevant  whether  the 
cause  of  his  displacement  is  action  on  the  part  of  the  state, 
for  example  a  factory  act,  or  action  on  the  part  of  his  em- 
ployer, for  example  the  reorganization  of  a  business.  The 
effect  on  the  individual  concerned  is  certainly  not  more  mis- 
chievious  in  the  former  case  than  in  the  latter.  Whenever 
an  employee  discovers  a  new  process,  whenever  a  change  in 
fashion  causes  the  production  of  one  class  of  good  rather 
than  another,  whenever  Parliment  raises  the  age  of  com- 
pulsory school  attendance  or  passes  new  factory  legislation, 
whenever  a  Poor  Law  Authority  decides  to  substitute  a 
"  strict  "  for  a  "  lax  "  system  of  relief,  there  is  an  interference 
with  vested  interests  from  which  small  or  large  classes  of 
wage-earners  suffer,  often,  without  any  such  compensation  in 
the  shape  of  an  advance  in  the  lowest  earnings  as  has  been 
brought  about  by  the  Trade  Board.  .  .  .  The  dislocation  caused 
by  the  first  application  to  an  industry  of  a  minimum  wage  is, 
in  fact,  a  particular  case  of  a  general  and  much  more  exten- 
sive problem,  and  must  be  judged  not  in  isolation  but  in  refer- 
ence to  it.  Any  argument  against  the  Tailoring  Trade  Board 
based  merely  on  the  fact  that  it  had  made  more  precarious 

1  Tawney,  R.  H.,  Minimum  rates  in  the  Tailoring  TraSe,  pp.  164-166. 


96  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [96 

the  livelihood  of  the  older  and  slower  workers  would  be  at 
least  equally  valid  against  the  introduction  of  power  driven 
sewing  machines,  or,  indeed,  against  the  erection  of  factories 
themselves. 

The  question  of  industrial  displacement  in  the  «ase  of  wage 
rates  as  in  every  other  case  must  be  judged  "  not  by  the  imme- 
diate dislocation  which  it  causes,  but  by  its  general  results  upon 
social  welfare." 

In  so  far  as  the  opposition  rests  upon  forecasts  of  the 
bad  results  of  wage  legislation,  it  is  evident  that  nothing  but 
the  test  of  its  actual  working  will  settle  their  validity.  We 
shall  consider  further  this  phase  of  the  opposition  in  the 
following  chapter,  which  sets  forth  the  movement  in  the 
light  of  concrete  experience. 

Apart  from  the  alleged  evils  that  it  involves,  the  contro- 
versy between  the  advocates  and  opponents  resolves  itself 
into  a  conflict  of  social  philosophy.  The  latter  revert  to  the 
working  of  natural  law  and  the  principle  of  competition; 
the  former  would  extend  the  principles  of  state  control  to 
raise  the  plane  of  competition  and  to  restrict  its  working  in 
the  interest  of  the  common  good. 


CHAPTER  VI 
The  Effects  of  Minimum-Wage  Legislation 

Nothing  short  of  actual  experience  of  the  social  and 
economic  effects  of  minimum-wage  legislation  can  settle  the 
controversy  between  its  advocates  and  opponents.  If  it  is 
practicable  and  fundamentally  sound,  a  fair  trial  will  reveal 
that  fact;  if  it  is  impracticable  and  unsound,  a  fair  trial  will 
reveal  that  fact  also.  Without  a  convincing  demonstration 
of  their  futility,  belief  in  the  promise  held  out  by  minimum- 
wage  laws  as  a  remedy  for  low  wages  is  so  strong  that  it 
cannot  be  shaken.  Although  it  is  probable  that  final  judg- 
ment will  depend  upon  the  results  of  experiments  made  in 
the  United  States,  the  experience  of  Australasia,  and  espec- 
ially of  Great  Britain,  has  been  such  a  powerful  stimulus 
to  the  minimum-wage  movement  in  this  country  that  it  is 
worth  while  to  consider  briefly  how  much  reliable  guidance 
there  is  for  us  in  the  actual  working  of  the  system  where  it 
has  been  longer  in  operation. 

The  most  representative  of  the  several  laws  in  force  in 
Australasia  are  those  of  Victoria,  New  Zealand  and  New 
South  Wales.  Of  these  three,  Victoria  furnishes  the  most 
illuminating  data  for  America.  Our  legislation  has  its  pro- 
totype in  the  Victorian  Minimum  Wages  Board.  The  Vic- 
torian legislation  is  concerned  primarily  with  protecting 
society  from  the  evils  of  low  wages,  whereas  the  law  in  all 
other  states  of  the  Australian  Commonwealth  and  in  New 
Zealand  is  designed  chiefly  to  maintain  and  promote  indus- 
trial peace  by  eliminating  strikes  and  lockouts.  An  exam- 
97]  97 


og  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [98 

ination  of  the  working  of  the  former,  therefore,  will  fur- 
nish some  idea  of  the  effects  of  wage  awards  in  their  most 
clear-cut  form  without  the  complications  that  arise  when 
we  try  to  separate  them  from  the  other  effects  of  a  general 
system  of  compulsory  arbitration  and  conciliation  for  in- 
dustrial disputes. 

At  the  outset,  it  may  be  noted  that  when  the  bill  provid- 
ing for  wage  boards  was  introduced  into  the  Victorian  Par- 
liament it  met  with  violent  opposition.  Most  of  the  argu- 
ments advanced  against  it  have  figured  in  the  campaign  in 
this  country  which  we  have  noted  in  the  preceding  chapter — 
the  interference  with  liberty  of  the  subject;  the  abrogation 
of  the  law  of  supply  and  demand;  the  predictions  that  it 
would  drive  work  out  of  the  country,  that  only  the  best 
workers  would  be  employed,  that  it  would  be  impossible  to 
enforce  its  provisions,  and  so  on.  Enacted  and  applied  in 
the  face  of  this  hostility,  what  does  its  operation  show  after 
twenty  years'  experience  ?  * 

One  result  seems  to  be  established  beyond  dispute,  vis., 
the  abolition  of  sweating  among  botK  home  and  factory 
workers.2  This  was  the  evil  that  the  wage-board  system 
was  first  designed  to  remedy.  The  reports  of  the  Chief 
Inspector  of  Factories  show  that  it  has  been  possible  to 
raise  the  level  of  wages  so  that  complaints  are  no  longer 
heard  of  miserable  rates  of  pay.  Five  years  after  the  law 
went  into  effect  the  Chief  Inspector  of  Factories  reported 
that  "  many  of  the  notorious  '  sweaters '  have  settled  down 
to  fair  prices.    A  few  who  at  one  time  gave  out  work  now 

1  The  best  summary  of  the  results  of  wage  legislation  in  Australasia 
is  given  in  the  study  made  for  the  New  York  State  Factory  Investigat- 
ing Commission  by  Paul  S.  Collier.  Upon  this  I  have  drawn  largely 
in  the  present  chapter. 

2  Collier,  "  Wage  Legislation  in  Australasia,"  State  Factory  Investigat- 
ing Commission,  New  York,  Fourth  Report,  vol.  iv,  p.  1878. 


gg-j        EFFECTS  OF  MINIMUM-WAGE  LEGISLATION  gg 

make  it  up  themselves  instead  of  sub-letting  at,  while 
others  have  disappeared  entirely  from  the  trade.  Complaints 
re  sweating  rates  are  conspicuous  by  their  absence."  x 

Granting  that  legislation  has  eliminated  the  excessively 
low  wages  in  the  sweated  industries,  what  has  been  its  effect 
upon  wages  in  the  other  more  normal  trades  to  which  it  has 
been  extended?  Here  the  answer  is  not  so  clear-cut.  On 
the  basis  of  figures  for  1900  and  191 2,  a  direct  increase  in 
wages  has  been  common  both  in  trades  where  boards  have 
fixed  rates  and  in  those  where  they  have  not.  For  men  the 
average  increase  has  been  greater  in  the  board  than  in  the 
non-board  trades.  When  Mr.  Aves  compared  the  average 
wage  of  men  in  1900- 1906,  he  found  that  "  on  the  whole 
there  was  a  considerable  advance  in  the  board,  but  only  a 
trifling  increase  in  the  non-board  rates."  2  Mr.  Collier  ob- 
serves the  same  tendency  in  his  later  wage  comparisons,  but 
with  much  less  difference  between  the  two  groups.  For 
women,  on  the  other  hand,  he  found  that  the  average  in- 
crease had  been  somewhat  greater  in  the  non-board  than  in 
the  board  trades.  The  conflicting  tendencies  in  the  move- 
ment of  men's  and  women's  wages  need  more  explanation 
than  can  be  gained  from  the  data  furnished. 

The  chief  criticism  of  the  data  on  wages  is  their  incom- 
pleteness. A  wide  difference  is  shown  between  wage 
changes  in  both  board  and  non-board  groups,  suggesting  the 
importance  of  individual  industrial  studies,  if  we  are  to  get 
much  light  upon  the  forces  that  have  operated  to  produce 
such  varying  results.  Such  wage  comparisons  as  can  be 
made  on  the  basis  of  available  statistics  are  too  general  for 
definite  conclusions.  The  relation,  if  any,  of  the  wage  de- 
terminations to  the  general  rise  in  wages  is  nowhere  clearly 

1  Collier,  op.  cit.,  p.  1879. 
J  Ibid.,  p.  1895- 


IOO 


WOMEN'S  WAGES  [ioo 


indicated.  It  is  undeniable  that  there  has  been  a  great  ad- 
vance of  earnings  in  the  board  trades,  but,  as  we  have  seen, 
there  has  been  an  even  greater  advance  in  the  non-board 
trades.  Is  it  possible  to  trace  the  specific  influence  of  a 
single  factor  like  legislation  in  times  of  a  general  rise  or  fall 
in  wages  ?  Probably  not.  It  has  been,  no  doubt,  a  factor,  but 
only  one  of  many  in  the  industrial  development  of  Victoria 
since  1897.  With  some  fluctuations,  the  commercial  life  of 
the  state  has  shown  a  record  of  prosperity.  '  Through  all 
its  shifting  history,"  says  Mr.  Collier,  "  one  fact  stands  out 
clearly,  the  wages  boards  are  not  held  responsible  for  the 
periods  of  trade  depression  nor  for  the  times  of  business 
prosperity.  Their  sphere  has  constantly  been  extended  in 
season  and  out  of  season."  J  This  is  probably  as  much  as 
can  be  said  on  the  basis  of  our  present  information.  Though 
it  admittedly  leaves  unsettled  the  question  of  the  exact  in- 
fluence of  wage  legislation  on  wages,  at  least  it  can  be  said 
that  it  has  been  a  potent  factor  in  getting  rid  of  miserably 
low  rates  of  pay  and  in  establishing  a  fair  standard  wage  in 
industry. 

Has  the  minimum  wage  become  the  maximum  also?  The 
Reports  of  the  Chief  Inspector  of  Factories  refer  frequently 
to  this  point.  In  the  Report  for  1901,  the  Chief  Inspector 
states : 


;,'■ 


3 


The  Special  Board  system  has  now  been  in  force  in  a  few  I 
trades  since  1897,  and  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  the 
minimum  wage  is  never  the  maximum  wage.  If  we  take  the 
clothing  trade,  for  instance,  the  minimum  wage  for  adult  males 
is  45s.  per  week,  whereas  the  average  wage  paid  last  year 
was  53s-  3d-  Per  week;  for  adult  females  in  this  trade  the 
minimum  wage  is  20s.  per  week,  whereas  the  average  wage 
paid  last  year  was  22s.  3d.  per  week.2 

1  Collier,  op.  cit.,  p.  1927. 
1  Ibid.,  p.  1897. 


■  - 


IOi]       EFFECTS  OF  MINIMUM-WAGE  LEGISLATION 


IOi 


In  a  similar  way,  the  figures  quoted  for  the  boot,  shirt,  and 
furniture  trades  show  a  tendency  for  the  average  wage  to 
rise  above  the  minimum.  In  later  reports  the  point  is  often 
reiterated.  The  succeeding  table  prepared  by  the  Chief  In- 
spector of  Factories  in  191 4  is  the  most  recent  evidence  on 
this  point,  and  includes  all  of  the  trades  where  a  direct  com- 
parison was  possible.2  A  glance  at  it  will  show  that  in 
every  instance  the  average  wage  paid  is  in  excess  of  the 
rate  fixed  by  the  wages  board. 

A   Comparison   of  the  Average   Minimum    Wage   Paid   in    Certain 

Trades  with  the  Statutory  Minimum  Wage  as  Fixed  by  the 

Wages  Board  Determination  for  the  Particular  Trade 


II 


Board. 


U 

abi 
bJ 

Bread  carters 

Boot 

Dressmake  rs 

Furniture  (bedding). 

Males 

Females 

Furniture  (cabinet  making). 

Females 

Jam  trade 

Livery  stable 

1    Milliners. 

Organ 

Process  engravers. 
Underclothing 


Tl» 


ton 


Year  ending  31st 
December,  1910. 


Wages 
board  rate. 


40/ 

54/ 
16/ 

5°/ 
25/ 

25/ 


22/6 
58/ 

20/ 


Average 
wage  paid. 


40/10 

55/8 
21/9 

52/4 
26/4 

27/2 


3i/5 
64/8 

27/1 


Year  ending  31st 
December,  191 2. 


Wages 
board  rate. 


48/ 
54/ 
21/6 

57/ 
27/6 

27/6 

48/ 

42/ 

22/6 

58/ 

62/ 

20/ 


Average 
wage  paid. 


48/8 

56/11 

26/5 

61/10 
28/3 

29/9 
48 '8 
44/8 
32/4 
61/5 
83/6 
23/9 


Nevertheless,  some  evidence  to  the  contrary  exists  in  the 
reports  themselves.  In  ironmoulding,  for  example,  the 
Report  of  1906,  made  by  the  Chief  Inspector  of  Factories 

1  Collier,  op.  cit.,  p.  1899. 


102 


WOMEN'S  WAGES  [102 


in  Victoria,  pointed  to  a  tendency  to  pay  unskilled  workers 
the  bare  legal  rates.  The  minimum  rates  for  ovenmakers 
are  seldom  raised.  In  the  making  of  aerated  waters,  wages 
have  steadily  declined  toward  a  dead-level  fixed  by  the 
standard  wage.  The  same  tendency  has  been  apparent  in 
the  cardboard-box  industry  and  in  order  dressmaking.  Ex- 
ceptional as  such  cases  may  be,  they  are  sufficiently  numer- 
ous to  qualify  the  different  findings  in  other  industries. 
Furthermore,  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  method 
followed  in  these  reports  is  the  crudest  and  perhaps  the 
most  unsatisfactory  way  of  indicating  that  the  minimum 
does  not  become  the  maximum.  A  few  very  well-paid  work- 
ers would  serve  to  raise  the  average  above  the  wage-board 
rate.  What  we  need  to  know  is  how  many  are  getting  more 
or  less  than  the  minimum  rate  before  and  after  its  estab- 
lishment, and  how  much  more  or  less  they  are  getting. 
Moreover,  comparison  should  be  made  with  industries  in 
which  there  have  been  increases  in  wages  but  which  are 
free  from  the  rulings  of  wage  boards.  In  these  trades  is 
the  variation  from  the  lowest  wage  paid  greater,  the  same, 
or  less?  Much  more  and  better  statistical  evidence  is  needed 
on  this  point  before  any  conclusion  can  be  drawn.  Again, 
this  evidence  should  be  furnished  with  a  background  of 
trade  conditions,  including  especially  the  state  of  the  labor 
market  for  each  occupation  and  the  condition  of  business. 
The  suggestion  of  the  influence  of  these  factors  in  the  Chief 
Inspector's  Reports  is  only  enough  to  make  us  wish  for 
mo-re.  For  example,  data  on  the  brick-making  industry 
show  that  in  1905  when  business  was  dull  there  were  few 
instances  where  wages  were  higher  than  the  board  states. 
The  following  year,  when  business  had  improved,  one  fac- 
tory paid  all  of  its  hands  more  than  the  legal  minimum. 
And  by  1908,  with  continued  prosperity,  "  there  was  a 
general  consensus  of  opinion  that  the  rates  paid  were  not 


I03]      EFFECTS  OF  MINIMUM-WAGE  LEGISLATION        10-, 

limited  by  determination  standards."  *  Such  evidence  sup- 
ports the  contention  of  minimum-wage  advocates  that  a 
legal  minimum  only  furnishes  a  plane  below  which  wages 
may  not  fall.  The  degree  to  which  they  rise  above  the 
plane  will  depend  on  other  and  different  influences. 

Another  item  that  Mr.  Collier  points  out  must  be  con- 
sidered carefully. 

It  would  seem  [he  says],  that  the  rate  fixed  for  any  given 
trade  has  a  large  part  to  do  in  making  that  a  minimum  or  a 
standard  rate.  If  the  rate  fixed  is  not  too  high  and  the  de- 
mand for  labor  is  normal,  higher  wages  are  bound  to  be  paid 
to  the  more  skilled  hands,  and  even  to  the  workers  of  the 
lowest  grade.  But  it  must  be  admitted  as  Mr.  Murphy  (Chief 
Factor  Inspector)  has  pointed  out,  that  in  Australia  generally 
the  action  of  the  wages  boards  and  the  arbitration  courts  has 
been  to  unduly  inflate  the  pay  of  unskilled  as  compared  to 
skilled  workers.2 

Regarding  this  point,  Mr.  Murphy  said  in  a  personal  letter 
to  Mr.  Collier,  March,  1914: 

This  of  course  will  have  a  number  of  evil  effects,  and  to  my 
mind  is  the  greatest  defect  that  can  be  pointed  out  against 
the  wages  board  system  as  we  know  it  in  Victoria.  It  takes 
away  the  inducement  of  the  energetic  young  worker  to  increase 
his  efficiency.  As  this  factor  increases  in  importance,  it  will 
probably  have  the  effect  of  further  equalizing  the  pay  of 
workers  in  any  trade.8 

Enough  has  been  said  to  indicate  that  it  is  highly  desir- 
able— in  fact,  it  is  indispensable — that  the  movement  of  the 
wagre  scale  shall  be  examined  in  connection  with  individual 
industrial   conditions   and   with   methods   of    rate-making. 

1  Collier,  op.  cit.,  p.  1898. 
s  Ibid.,  p.  1900. 
3  Ibid.,  p.  1901. 


I04  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [104 

Until  more  definite  statistics  are  compiled  by  competent 
authorities,  the  opponents  of  wage  legislation  will  continue 
to  heed  those  Australian  employers  who  make  the  state- 
ment, unsubstantiated  by  facts,  that  the  minimum  tends  to 
become  the  maximum.  On  the  other  hand,  its  advocates 
who  deny  the  statement  have  not  much  more  of  a  factual 
basis  to  fortify  their  position  than  the  bare  suggestion  of  a 
tendency.  On  the  whole  question  of  the  influence  of  the 
wage  legislation  on  the  wage  scale,  great  caution  must  be 
used  in  interpreting  results. 

Let  us  turn  to  another  aspect  of  wage  legislation,  its 
effect  upon  employment.  What  has  the  Victorian  experi- 
ence to  show  for  the  oft-repeated  assertion  that  such  laws 
would  tend  to  throw  employees  out  of  work,  or  to  substi- 
tute one  class  of  workers  for  another  ?  Here,  as  in  the  case 
of  wages,  the  evidence  is  conflicting.  Some  trades  show  an 
actual  reduction  in  the  number  of  workers  coinciding  with 
the  new  wage  determination,  some  show  an  actual  increase, 
some  show  no  change  whatever.  In  the  boot  and  shoe 
trade,  one  of  the  first  to  which  the  wage-board  system  was 
applied,  scores  of  workers  were  thrown  out  of  employment. 
This  was  due  in  part  to  other  special  influences.  A  period 
of  general  commercial  depression  had  caused  the  usual  slack 
demand  for  labor ;  improvements  in  machinery  in  the  manu- 
facture of  boots  and  shoes  had  caused  the  supply  of  labor 
in  this  trade  notably  to  exceed  the  demand.  Part  of  it, 
however,  was  due  to  the  legislation  itself.  The  wages  boards 
at  that  time  made  no  provision  for  the  old,  infirm,  or  slow 
worker,  and  in  consequence  they  were  dismissed  in  some- 
what wholesale  fashion.     Eventually,  however, 

the  trade  recovered  its  balance  and  the  labor  market  was  read- 
justed. The  fact  that  the  number  of  adult  males  employed 
in  the  trade  increased  from  1897  in  1900  to  2,861  in  1912,  and 
the  number  of  females  from  600  to  1,571  during  the  same  years 


I05]      EFFECTS  OF  MINIMUM-WAGE  LEGISLATION        1Q- 

is  conclusive  evidence  that  the  trade  was  not  permanently  in- 
jured by  the  enactment  of  a  higher  wage  standard.1 

In  the  dressmaking  trade,  another  of  the  initial  board  trades, 
and  a  trade  in  which  a  large  proportion  of  the  employees 
are  women,  both  the  number  of  adult  females  and  the  total 
number  of  females  in  the  trade  actually  increased  during 
the  year  of  the  wage  determination.2 

As  the  wage-board  system  has  been  extended  from  trade 
to  trade,  the  fear  of  a  discharge  of  workers  usually  has 
preceded  its  adoption.  But  subsequent  events  have  only 
partially  confirmed  its  reasonableness.  Mr.  Collier  shows 
that 

of  a  list  of  seventeen  trades  coming  under  a  determination 
from  1903  to  1910  and  having  a  continuous  history  from  1900 
to  1912,  nine  showed  a  decrease  in  the  number  of  adult  male 
workers  while  there  was  an  increase  in  eight.  In  a  similar 
group  of  six  trades  employing  females,  three  show  a  decrease, 
two  an  increase,  while  one  remained  practically  stationary.  An- 
other group  of  twenty-seven  trades  employing  males  in  which 
determinations  took  effect  during  1901  and  1902  shows  a  de- 
crease for  fifteen,  an  increase  for  ten  and  a  stationary  condition 
for  two.3 

The  later  history  of  these  trades  brings  out  the  fact  of 
prime  importance  that 

in  only  three  instances  was  a  decreased  number  of  employees 
during  the  determination  year  associated  with  a  permanent 
decline  in  the  number  of  workers  occupied  in  the  trade,  and  in 
only  six  did  a  stationary  condition  remain.  The  great  ma- 
jority of   industries  have  flourished  and   employed  a  larger 

1  Collier,  op.  cit.,  p.  1004. 

7  Ibid.,  p.  1005. 

*  Ibid.,  pp.  1905-1906. 


io5  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [106 

number  of  hands  with  each  succeeding  year,  once  the  period 
of  readjustment  is  past.1 

Here  it  may  be  well  to  state  that  where  work  has  been  re- 
duced, "  the  cry  of  distress  has  come  from  the  less  com- 
petent members  of  the  community.  .  .  .  Complaints  are  not 
made  in  behalf  of  able  and  efficient  employees,  but  for  the 
old,  the  weak,  and  the  infirm."  1  It  is  admitted  that  only  a 
period  of  prosperity  has  kept  this  group  at  work,  and  that 
the  real  test  of  distress  and  unemployment  will  come  at  a 
time  of  commercial  depression. 

On  the  whole,  it  would  seem  that  the  relation  of  wage 
legislation  both  to  employment  and  to  other  phases  of  in- 
dustry is  essentially  one  of  adjustment.  That  there  will  be 
different  results  in  different  trades  is  to  be  expected  in  view 
of  the  varying  cost,  and  the  varying  intelligence  and  effi- 
ciency of  the  managerial  group.  Satisfactory  information 
on  the  manner  in  which  employers  have  made  the  adjust- 
ment is  extremely  meager.  There  is  reason  to  suppose  that 
in  some  instances  the  adoption  of  the  wage-board  system 
has  been  a  direct  stimulus  to  better  business  practice. 
Labor-saving  machinery,  new  inventions,  improved  methods 
of  work — these  would  appear  to  have  been  more  quickly  in- 
troduced under  the  influence  of  higher  rates  of  wages.  A 
certain  tendency  has  been  noted  on  the  part  of  some  em- 
ployers to  displace  adult  workers  by  those  younger  and  less 
skilled.  In  other  trades  the  contrary  policy  has  been  fol- 
lowed of  substituting  the  more  efficient  for  the  less  efficient 
worker.  The  displacement  of  men  by  women,  which  is  an- 
other phase  of  this  question,  can  neither  be  proved  nor  dis- 
proved by  the  evidence  at  hand.  Still  another  phase  of 
adjustment   is  overspeeding  labor   to   compensate   for  the 

1  Collier,  op.  cit.,  pp.  1909-1910. 
3  Ibid.,  p.  1912. 


I07]      EFFECTS  OF  MINIMUM-WAGE  LEGISLATION         10~ 

higher  wage.  In  the  early  years  of  the  wage-board  system 
there  were  many  complaints  by  time-workers  of  "  speeding 
up."  But  in  1908  Mr.  Aves  reported  that  even  those  who 
might  have  been  tempted  to  resort  to  this  practice  were 
unable  to  do  so  because  the  shortage  of  labor  had  put  work- 
ers in  a  position  to  challenge  such  a  policy.1  This  condi- 
tion has  been  a  large  factor  in  the  industrial  world  for  the 
last  ten  or  fifteen  years. 

The  testimony  of  employers  is  as  vague  as  the  testimony 
of  data.  Many  employers  believe  that  no  appreciable  effect 
can  be  traced  directly  to  the  special  boards.  Others  think 
they  may  have  strengthened  what  was  the  normal  tendency 
of  the  time  toward  greater  specialization  and  the  expansion 
of  manufacturing  processes.  Many  claim  that  laborers  are 
less  efficient  than  in  former  years.  The  Chief  Inspector  of 
Factories,  on  the  other  hand,  stated  in  191 3:  "I  think  it 
can  be  truthfully  said  that  the  efficiency  of  the  workers  all 
round  is  distinctly  higher  under  the  minimum  wage  than  it 
was  before."  -  In  short,  no  statistics  are  available  to  settle 
what  specific  influence  wage  legislation  has  had  either  upon 
general  business  organization  and  method  or  upon  individ- 
ual efficiency. 

Nor  is  it  any  less  difficult  to  settle  the  question  of  the 
relation  of  higher  wage  rates  to  the  cost  of  production  and 
prices.  In  reply  to  a  special  inquiry  made  by  Mr.  Aves  on 
this  point,  twenty-eight  employees  and  employers  said  they 
were  unable  to  mention  a  case  where  higher  prices  were  the 
result  of  wage  determinations.  Nine  were  either  doubtful 
or  contrary  in  their  opinion.     Mr.  Collier  states  that 

1  Aves,  Report  to  the  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Home  Department 
on  the  Wages  Boards  and  Industrial  Conciliation  and  Arbitration  Acts 
of  Australia  and  New  Zealand,  p.  52.   Quoted  by  Collier,  op.  cit.,  p.  1916. 

*  State  Factory  Investigating  Commission,  New  York,  Third  Report, 
P.  54- 


IQg  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [108 

in  several  trades  where  wages  have  increased,  neither  cost  nor 
price  has  been  similarly  affected,  and  in  some  cases  they  have 
tended  in  opposite  directions.  Prices  have  in  some  trades  been 
raised  because  of  determinations,  the  cost  of  production  there- 
by 'being  passed  on  to  the  consumer.  This  has  been  true  more 
especially  of  purely  local  industries  in  which  machinery  was 
little  used,  such  as  dressmaking.  In  the  case  of  staple  pro- 
ducts labor  legislation  has  had  little  effect  on  prices.  .  .  .  Un- 
der the  latter  circumstances  the  extra  charge  of  higher  wages 
must  be  met  by  increased  efficiency  of  the  productive  organi- 
zation or  by  a  reduction  in  the  proportion  of  profits.1 

Mr.  Collier  believes  that  "  both  tendencies  have  been  opera- 
tive to  some  extent."  But  again,  it  must  be  repeated,  con- 
clusive statistical  evidence  is  lacking. 

The  question  of  competition  between  regulated  and  un- 
regulated districts  is  one  that  has  had  to  be  faced  in  Vic- 
toria and  is  of  special  interest  to  us  in  our  present  policy  of 
the  regulation  of  industry  by  the  separate  states.  When 
the  wage  boards  were  first  introduced  in  Victoria  their 
jurisdiction  was  limited  not  only  to  special  trades,  but  to 
cities,  towns  and  boroughs.  This  meant  competition  be- 
tween the  town  and  country  manufacturer  in  the  same  in- 
dustry. There  was  also  the  competition  of  neighboring 
states.  Although  wage-determination  rates  were  frequently 
paid  voluntarily  in  country  towns,  complaints  often  were 
made  against  this  principle  of  discrimination  in  the  early 
days  of  wage  legislation.  It  is  only  as  the  authority  of 
wage  boards  has  been  extended  to  the  shires,  and  as  the 
practice  of  regulating  wages  has  been  adopted  in  the  other 
states  of  the  Commonwealth  and  in  the  Commonwealth 
itself,  that  complaints  of  unfair  external  competition  have 
become  very  infrequent. 

1  Collier,  op.  cit.,  p.  1919. 


IOOJ      EFFECTS  OF  MINIMUM-WAGE  LEGISLATION         log 

The  fear  that  wage  legislation  will  hinder  or  undermine 
the  development  of  collective  action  among  the  workers  has 
been  noted  in  the  previous  chapter  as  common  among  trade- 
unionists  in  America.  This  fear  the  Victorian  experience 
does  not  seem  to  justify.  Mr.  Aves,  it  is  true,  in  1908,  ex- 
pressed the  opinion  that  the  ultimate  effect  of  minimum- 
wage  legislation  would  be  to  weaken  the  voluntary  collective 
action  of  the  workers,  in  that  one  of  the  chief  motives  for 
the  organization  of  labor  would  be  fundamentally  weak- 
ened. But,  as  Mr.  Collier  points  out,  there  has  been  a  mate- 
rial growth  in  unionism  since  1908.  In  reply  to  a  question- 
naire sent  out  by  Mr.  Collier  in  191 4,  fourteen  employers 
believed  the  unions  had  been  strengthened  by  the  wage- 
board  system.  Eight  thought  otherwise.  It  is  probably 
true,  as  he  says,  that  "  unionism  in  Victoria  has  not  made 
such  rapid  progress  as  in  some  of  the  other  states  of  Aus- 
tralia. A  system  of  industrial  arbitration  dependent  upon 
trade  unions  for  its  administration  undoubtedly  stimulates 
organization  as  no  system  of  wages  boards  can  do."  1  But 
at  any  rate  the  trade  unions  play  an  important  role  under 
the  wage-board  system  in  the  appointment  of  members  to 
Wage  boards  and  in  the  general  enforcement  of  the  act. 
There  has  been  a  "  material  growth  in  unionism  since  1908 
and  there  is  no  evidence  to  show  that  the  wages  boards 
have  tended  to  destroy  it."  2 

In  summarizing  the  effects  of  wage  legislation  in  Vic- 
toria, it  may  be  said  that  neither  the  fears  of  its  opponents 
nor  the  claims  of  its  advocates  can  be  tested  on  a  trustworthy 
basis  of  fact.  Conflicting  evidence  or  complete  lack  of 
evidence  mark  almost  every  point  in  the  controversy.  This 
probably  is  due  in  part  to  faulty  methods  of  investigation, 

1  Collier,  op.  cit.,  p.  1945. 

2  Ibid. 


j  j  0  WOMEN'S  WA  GES  [no 

but  it  doubtless  is  due  more  largely  to  the  inherent  diffi- 
culty of  disentangling  the  influence  of  one  specific  factor  in 
a  highly  complex  set  of  circumstances.  Moreover,  in  the 
very  nature  of  things,  wage  legislation  is  bound  to  show 
contrary  effects  upon  different  establishments  in  the  same 
industry  and  in  different  industries.  Some  concerns  will 
be  little  affected  by  it,  others  will  require  less  or  more  re- 
organization. In  all  probability,  difficulties  encountered  by 
employers  in  making  the  adjustment  and  failure  itself  will 
be  ascribed  to  the  restricted  legislation  rather  than  to  per- 
sonal incompetency.  The  result  is  a  conflict  of  opinion  in- 
conclusive as  far  as  the  merits  of  the  question  itself  are 
concerned. 

Perhaps  the  best  evidence  on  behalf  of  the  system  of 
regulating  wages  in  Victoria  is  the  steady  extension  of  the 
wage  boards,  the  changed  attitude  of  representative  organ- 
izations of  business  men,  and  the  attitude  of  employees 
themselves.  Beginning  with  only  six  trades  in  which  wages 
were  exceptionally  low,  the  wage-board  system  has  been 
extended  until  at  the  present  time  it  applies  to  one  hundred 
and  forty-one  trades  affecting  about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  employees  engaged  in  a  wide  variety  of  work. 
In  the  early  days  of  the  movement  the  Victorian  Chamber 
of  Manufactures  led  the  attacks  upon  the  new  system.  In 
191 2  the  president  and  secretary  of  this  organization  and 
the  officers  of  the  Victorian  Employers'  Association  stated 
that  their  members  no  longer  wished  to  see  the  system  abol- 
ished. Neither  do  employees.  To  quote  Professor  Ham- 
mond, one  of  the  most  competent  students  of  the  Victorian 
system :  "  Whatever  may  be  the  difference  of  opinion  be- 
tween employers  and  employees  as  to  the  effect  of  the  legal 
minimum  wage  in  producing  certain  results,  and  whatever 
criticism  they  may  make  of  the  Factories  Act,  both  sides 
are  now  practically  unanimous  in  saying  that  they  have  no 


Ill]      EFFECTS  OF  MINIMUM-WAGE  LEQISLA  TION        1 1  T 

desire  to  return  to  the  old  system  of  unrestricted  competi- 
tion in  the  purchase  of  labor."  1 

It  was  largely  under  the  stimulus  of  belief  in  the  success 
of  the  Victorian  system  that  Great  Britain  in  1909  provided 
a  similar  remedy  for  certain  notoriously  low-paid  industries. 
At  the  present  time  there  are  available  the  reports  made  by 
R.  H.  Tawney  on  the  working  of  the  system  in  chain- 
making  and  tailoring,  and  by  M.  E.  Bulkley  in  box-making. 
All  of  these  contain  much  instructive  information  on  the 
effects  of  wage  regulation  on  different  types  of  industrial 
enterprise,  but  for  our  present  purpose  we  shall  consider  in 
detail  only  the  tailoring  trade  —  a  trade  which  offers  the 
most  difficult  problems  of  the  thpee  types,  and  also  a  trade 
which  in  many  respects  is  comparable  with  the  same  in- 
dustry in  America.  As  with  us,  it  is  one  of  the  leading  in- 
dustries from  the  standpoint  of  the  numbers  of  men  and 
women  it  employs,  and  from  the  standpoint  of  the  value  of 
its  product.  According  to  the  population  census  of  191 1, 
nearly  280,000  persons  were  employed,  of  whom  a  little  less 
than  one-half  were  women.  The  value  of  the  output  was 
in  1907  about  $125,000,000.  Not  only  similar  in  impor- 
tance is  it,  but  in  its  general  features  also.  The  outlines  of 
the  industry  and  the  general  conditions  under  which  it  is 
carried  on  will  in  many  ways  seem  familiar  to  the  reader 
who  knows  anything  of  the  organization  of  the  men's  ready- 
made  clothing  trade  in  this  country.  Of  the  organization 
of  the  trade,  Mr.  Tawney  says :  "There  is  probably  no  in- 
dustry in  which  the  methods  of  production  have  been  stand- 
ardized less  than  they  have  been  in  the  manufacture  of 
clothing."  2      Clothing  is   made  "  under  the  most  widely 

1  Annals  of  the  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science,  vol.  xlviii, 
P-  35- 

2  Tawney,  Minimum  Rates  in  th-e  Tailoring  Industry  (London,  1915), 

P-  10.  ,    .    ,     t  .',    ,.  ,    .,;  •:?  y   ]  JtJK&\ 


j  j  2  WOMEN'S  WA  GES  [  1 1 2 

different  conditions  by  the  most  diverse  types  of  workers, 
and  with  the  aid  of  the  most  various  systems  of  organiza- 
tion." 1     At  one  end  of  the  industry  are 

the  large  factories  equipped  with  every  variety  of  power-driven 
machinery,  relying  mainly  on  female  labor,  and  employing 
workers  whose  labor  is  so  minutely  graded  that  one  woman 
may  spend  her  whole  time  making  the  thirtieth  part  of  a 
garment.  At  the  other  end  is  the  living  room  of  the  isolated 
outworker,  who  takes  out  materials  either  direct  from  the 
factory  or  from  a  middleman  and  works  upon  them  at  home. 
Intermediate  between  these  two  extremes  are  the  workshops, 
employing  from  five  to  forty  workers,  and  dependent  for  or- 
ders either  upon  the  factories  or  upon  the  retail  shops,  equipped 
with  sewing  machines  but  having  little  other  machinery  and 
no  power  and  managed  by  a  small  master  who  usually  works 
side  by  side  with  his  employees.2 

There  is  also  a  broad  geographical  division  of  the  trade, 
"  the  north  of  England  being  the  principal  center  of  the 
tailoring  which  is  carried  on  in  factories  and  London  being 
the  center  of  the  tailoring  that  is  carried  on  in  workshops."  3 
There  are,  however,  numerous  workshops  in  Leeds,  the 
most  important  city  for  the  trade  in  the  north,  and  numer- 
ous factories  in  London.  Homework  is  found  irregularly 
in  the  industry.  In  some  important  cities  of  the  trade  it 
does  not  exist;  in  others  it  is  carried  on  only  on  a  small 
scale;  yet  in  others  the  number  of  home-workers  is  ex- 
tremely large.  Thus  for  all  these  reasons,  as  Mr.  Tawney 
points  out,  "  the  tailoring  trade  is  so  widely  extended,  so 
intricate,  and  carried  on  under  such  a  variety  of  different 
conditions,  that  the  establishment  of  minimum  rates  of  pay- 

1  Tawney,  op.  cit.,  p.  10. 
'Ibid.,  pp.  10,  11. 
*  Ibid.,  p.  16. 


II3]      EFFECTS  OF  MINIMUM-WAGE  LEGISLATION         II3 

ment  by  the  tailoring  trade  board  may  be  regarded  almost 
as  an  experimentum  cruris :"  x    What  has  been  the  result? 

First  as  to  wages.  Owing  to  the  lack  of  exact  and  com- 
plete data  on  wages,  and  owing  also  to  the  complicating  in- 
fluence of  factors  other  than  the  action  of  the  Trade  Board, 
the  findings  on  wages  are  to  be  taken  not  as  a  perfect  meas- 
urement of  the  influence  of  the  Board  but  only  as  an  indi- 
cation of  what  has  been  its  tendency.  Stating  them  in  their 
barest  form,  it  may  be  said  that  about  one-third  of  the 
women  received  increased  pay  and  about  one-fourth  of  the 
men.  But  when  certain  qualifications  are  made,  it  is  ap- 
parent that  a  much  larger  proportion  must  have  received 
higher  wages  after  the  Board's  determination.  For  it  must 
be  noted  that  differences  in  the  level  of  wages  in  different 
parts  of  the  country  limited  the  application  of  the  Board's 
findings.  When  the  Board  was  appointed,  there  was  a  dis- 
tinct difference  in  wage  rates  between  the  north  and  south 
of  England.  In  the  latter  localities  women's  labor  was 
relatively  dear ;  in  the  former  it  was  relatively  cheap.  The 
minimum  fixed  by  the  Board  did  not  affect  the  vast  major- 
ity of  workers  in  the  districts  where  the  higher  rates  of  pay 
prevailed.  Thus  the  proportion  of  workers  affected  un- 
doubtedly would  be  much  larger  if  we  had  the  data  to  con- 
sider only  the  districts  where  wages  had  been  lowest,  and 
which  were  the  only  ones  perceptibly  affected  by  the  change 
in  rates.  But  the  exact  measurement  of  this  change  cannot 
be  had.  It  is  evident  only  that  a  substantial  proportion  of 
the  lowest-paid  men  and  women  have  had  their  earnings 
increased. 

Apart  from  the  actual  increase  in  wages,  two  other  rul- 
ings of  the  Trade  Board  have  had  an  important  favorable 
bearing  upon  the  worker's  income.  One  provided  that  the 
rates  must  be  paid  "  free  and  clear  of  all  deductions."    The 

1  Tawney,  op.  cit.,  p.  252. 


j  j  4  WOMEN'S  WA  GES  [114 

inroad  upon  earnings  made  by  fines  has  been  a  serious 
grievance  among  many  of  the  workers.  This  ruling  secures 
them  against  a  reduction  below  the  minimum  fixed  by  the 
Board.  The  second  secures  the  worker  against  the  loss 
previously  incurred  in  waiting  for  work.  This  was  a  griev- 
ance frequently  expressed  by  women  workers. 

A  very  common  practise,  before  the  Trade  Board's  determina- 
tion was  issued,  was  for  the  workers  in  one  department  to  be 
kept  waiting  without  work,  because  it  had  not  passed  through 
the  previous  departments,  with  the  result  that  they  were  neither 
earning  wages  nor  free  to  return  home  and  engage  in  any  other 
work,  such  as  domestic  duties,  which  might  be  waiting  for 
them  there.1 

For  this  situation  the  Board  established  the  rule  that  in 
reckoning  the  earnings  of  a  piece  worker  with  respect  to  the 
minimum  rates,  the  whole  time  spent  in  the  workroom  or 
elsewhere  on  the  premises  by  the  employer's  instructions 
should  be  deemed  the  period  of  employment  to  be  paid  for. 
This  change  meant  higher  weekly  earnings  at  once,  for  such 
a  rule  forced  employers  to  take  greater  pains  to  provide 
continuous  work.  Furthermore,  it  resulted  in  increased 
leisure.  The  same  amount  of  work  is  produced  in  a  shorter 
time,  and  hence  in  many  firms  a  reduction  in  working  hours 
has  been  made  which  has  meant  chiefly  the  elimination  of 
wasted  time. 

Concerning  the  tendency  of  the  minimum  to  become  the 
maximum,  it  does  not  appear  that  this  has  happened  on  any 
considerable  scale  during  the  two  years  in  which  the  act  has 
been  in  operation.  A  few  firms,  it  is  true,  reduced  their 
piece  prices.  This  came  about  by  reason  of  the  closer  ex- 
amination of  all  prices  forced  by  the  Board's  decision  on 
minimum  rates.     Certain  prices  which  had  been  apparently 

....,-.  i  *  Tawney,  op.  cit.,  p.  61. 


II5]      EFFECTS  OF  MINIMUM-WAGE  LEGISLATION        ,  ,  - 

abnormally  high  were  cut  down.  In  a  few  instances  firms 
were  found  reducing  the  wages  of  better-paid  workers  to 
recoup  themselves  for  the  advances  to  the  more  poorly  paid. 
But  such  cases  are  exceptional.  What  usually  has  happened 
has  been  that  piece  rates  have  been  raised  and  the  relation 
of  the  earnings  of  different  classes  of  workers  to  each  other 
have  been  left  unaltered.  "  After,  as  before,  the  Trade 
Board's  determination,  one  finds  workers  who  are  paid  the 
same  piece  rate  for  the  same  work,  and  whose  earnings, 
nevertheless,  vary  as  much  as  50,  75,  or  even  100  per 
cent."  x 

It  is,  of  course,  not  among  piece-workers  but  among 
time-workers  that  there  is  the  greatest  likelihood  of  the 
minimum  becoming  the  maximum.  It  is  interesting  to  find 
on  this  point  comment  similar  to  that  on  the  Victorian  ex- 
perience. While  the  earnings  of  older  workers  have  not 
been  reduced,  younger  men  and  women  receive  the  mini- 
mum at  a  fairly  early  age.  This  is  better  pay  than  they 
formerly  received  at  that  age,  but  there  is  a  feeling  that  the 
rate  of  pay  received  by  those  who  have  just  finished  their 
learnership  is  about  the  same  as  for  the  older  workers. 
The  tendency  would  be  to  equalize  wages  for  all  ages. 
However,  the  act  has  not  been  in  operation  sufficiently  long 
to  test  the  assertion  that  those  younger  workers  who  are 
now  receiving  the  minimum  will  not  get  more  as  they  grow 
older.  As  the  present  writer  points  out  in  a  later  chapter, 
the  higher  earnings  that  are  connected  with  experience  and 
maturity  may  have  to  be  obtained  through  the  organized 
effort  of  older  workers. 

It  is  Mr.  Tawney's  opinion  that  contrary  to  reducing 
wages, 

the  effect  of  fixing  a  standard  which  all  workers  must  attain 
1  Tawney,  op.  cit.,  p.  88. 


j  j  6  WOMEN'S  WA  GES  [  1 1 6 

is  to  give  an  impulse  to  a  movement  for  an  advance  in  wages 
throughout  the  trade.  The  workers  who  were  previously  get- 
ting above  the  minimum  argue  that,  if  before  the  issue  of  the 
Trade  Board's  determination  they  were  worth  (say)  2s.  a  week 
more  than  those  who  have  now  received  an  advance,  they 
are  worth  it  after  the  advance  to  the  latter  has  been  given,  and 
therefore  hold  out  for  better  terms.1 

An  employer  residing  in  a  district  which  had  previously 
been  notorious  for  the  low  wages  of  male  workers,  is  quoted 
as  saying :  "The  men  who  are  getting  more  than  the  mini- 
mum are  dissatisfied.  This  sort  of  legislation  only  tends  to 
create  unrest.  The  workers  have  been  pandered  to,  and 
now  they  are  asking  for  more."  2  Testimony  from  an  op- 
posite source  is  to  the  same  effect.  A  trade-union  secretary 
in  the  same  locality  declared :  "  There  is  more  unrest  than 
before,  because  now  the  men  feel  that  something  can  be 
done.  The  less  skilled  men  feel  that  the  Union  has  done  a 
good  deal  for  them  and  should  have  their  support.  At  the 
same  time  the  better-paid  people  are  dissatisfied  because 
they  think  that  their  wages  ought  to  be  raised  in  propor- 
tion." 3 

To  those  who  have  feared  that  the  legal  regulation  of 
wages  would  decrease  the  voluntary  activities  of  the  work- 
ers in  their  own  behalf,  the  results  of  Mr.  Tawney's  in- 
quiry on  this  point  should  be  most  reassuring. 

So  far  from  prejudicing  Trade  Unionism  [he  says],  Trade 
Boards  are  likely,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  short  experience 
of  the  industries  in  which  they  exist,  to  encourage  it,  partly 
because  they  give  both  employers  and  workers  an  incentive  for 
organisation,  partly  because  the  discussions  and  meetings  which 

1  Tawney,  op.  cit.,  p.  89. 

7  Ibid. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  90. 


II7]      EFFECTS  OF  MINIMUM-WAGE  LEGISLATE  ,  ,  - 

they  involve  tend  to  create  the  corporate  consciousness  of 
professional  interests  on  which  effective  Trade  Unionism  de- 
pends, partly  because  the  main  obstacle  to  Trade  Unionism 
in  the  past  has  been  the  low  earnings  of  certain  groups  of 
workers,  partly  because  the  Trade  Board  gives  hope  to  work- 
ers who  were  previously  hopeless.  The  psychological  in- 
fluence of  the  Trade  Board  system  is,  indeed,  the  most  import- 
ant of  its  results.  Workers  who  were  till  recently  convinced 
that  agitation  for  higher  wages  was  always  futile  and  often 
dangerous  have  at  last  seen  the  advance  for  which  they  dared 
not  ask  brought  about  by  law,  and,  now  that  the  incredible  has 
happened,  have  realized  that  there  is  no  insuperable  barrier  in 
the  way  of  better  conditions.  In  the  clothing  industries,  at 
any  rate,  the  Trade  Board  has  been  followed  by  more  thorough 
organisation  both  among  employers  and  among  workers.  .  .  . 
It  (the  Trade  Board)  has  been  accompanied  by  the  growth 
of  Trade  Unionism  among  hitherto  unorganised  workers,  and 
by  an  increase  in  Trade  Union  activity.  Thus  the  Amalga- 
mated Society  of  Tailors  and  Tailoresses  reports  an  increase 
in  membership  which  is  stated  to  be  largely  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  increase  in  wages  has  for  the  first  time  made  it  pos- 
sible for  women  to  join  it  in  considerable  numbers.  .  .  .  What 
has  happened  has  been  that  the  Trade  Board,  by  raising  the 
rates  of  payment  among  the  worst-paid  section  of  workers, 
has  at  once  created  a  foundation  upon  which  organisation  can 
take  place,  and  made  it  easier  for  the  better-paid  workers  to 
obtain  an  advance  by  protecting  them  against  the  competition 
of  the  low-wage  districts.1 

In  London  a  beginning  has  been  made  with  the  organiza- 
tion of  home-workers.  Whether  these  gains  that  have  been, 
if  not  due  to  the  determination  of  wage  boards,  at  least 
coincident  with  them,  will  disappear  under  the  influence  of 
an  alternating  period  of  depression  in  the  trade,  remains  to 
be  seen. 

11  1  Tawney,  op.  cit.,  p.  91  e t  seq. 


jjg  WOMEN'S  W AGES  [n8 

In  the  effect  of  wage  legislation  upon  employment,  Mr. 
Tawney  found  little  to  justify  the  fears  of  those  who  pre- 
dict that  it  will  aggravate  the  already  serious  problem  of 
the  unemployed.  This  is  due  in  part  to  the  provision  made 
exempting  subnormal  workers  from  the  application  of  the 
minimum  rates.  By  the  agreement  between  the  Trade 
Board  and  the  manufacturers,  a  firm  was  considered  to  be 
complying  with  the  rulings  if  80  per  cent  of  its  workers 
were  earning  the  minimum  rate.  This  device  provided  pri- 
marily for  slow  and  inefficient  workers,  since  those  suffer- 
ing from  special  physical  incapacity  or  infirmity  had  been 
especially  exempted  in  the  act  itself.  Such  a  provision  ob- 
viously would  check  the  tendency  to  remove  those  who  were 
not  considered  worth  the  minimum  rate. 

A  certain  amount  of  displacement  of  adult  workers  ap- 
pears to  have  been  the  result  of  the  general  overhauling  of 
business  management  that  followed  upon  the  enforcement 
of  minimum  rates  of  pay.  Many  employers  decided  to 
"  weed  out  "  their  less  efficient  workers.  The  resulting 
unemployment,  however,  was  temporary.  For  when  a 
group  of  manufacturers  was  doing  the  same  thing  it  was 
not  easy  to  discover  other  workers  to  take  the  place  of  the 
inferior  ones  who  had  been  dismissed.  In  the  meantime 
business  continued  active,  and  thus,  not  infrequently,  work- 
ers were  dismissed  from  one  establishment  only  to  be 
quickly  employed  by  another  at  the  minimum  rates  or  more. 
The  generally  prosperous  condition  of  business  acted  as  a 
check  upon  the  tendency  to  substitute  the  more  efficient  for 
the  less  efficient  adult  worker.  In  this  connection  it  is  sig- 
nificant that  investigators  were  told  repeatedly  by  firms 
"  that  in  one  way  or  another,  sometimes  by  better  training, 
sometimes  by  better  machinery,  usually  by  more  careful 
organization,   they  had   succeeded  in  bringing  up  to  the 


lig]      EFFECTS  OF  MINIM  UM-IVA  GE  LEG  I  SLA  TION         l  r  q 

minimum  workers  whom  they  had  previously  stated  to  be 
incapable  of  earning  it."  * 

It  cannot  be  repeated  too  often  that  the  efficiency  of  a 
worker  is  largely  a  question  of  business  management.  The 
worth  of  labor  is  partly  a  personal  quality  of  the  laborer, 
but  it  is  a  personal  quality  of  the  employer  also.  It  is  a 
question  of  the  equipment  provided  to  work  with  and  the 
way  in  which  the  work  is  organized  by  the  employer.  These 
factors  may  make  all  the  difference  between  high  and  low 
weekly  wages. 

What  the  experience  of  the  Trade  Boards  suggests  is  that  the 
efficiency  or  inefficiency  of  management  is  not  constant 
throughout  an  industry  .  .  .  but  that  it  is  closely  connected 
with  the  level  of  wages,  and  that,  while  good  management 
makes  it  possible  to  pay  higher  wages,  a  rise  in  the  wages 
tends  to  be  accompanied  by  more  efficient  management.1 

In  the  tailoring  trade 

the  effect  of  the  Trade  Board  on  management  has  been  seen 
in  four  main  directions.  It  has  been  responsible  for  a  closer 
supervision  of  earnings  and  of  work.  It  has  led  to  a  more 
careful  attention  being  given  to  the  training  of  workers.  It 
has  caused  processes  to  be  subdivided  and  grouped  differ- 
ently. It  has  stimulated  the  introduction  of  new  kinds  of 
power  and  better  machinery.' 

The  result  has  been  that  the  increased  cost  of  labor  has  been 
offset  by  superior  methods  of  management,  thus  constitut- 
ing a  gain  for  the  employee  and  no  loss  to  the  employer. 
It  must  not  be  inferred,  however,  that  every  employer  has 
been  able  to  make  the  reorganization  successfully.  Some 
have  lacked  the  necessary  intelligence;  others  have  lacked 

1  Tawney,  op.  cit.,  p.  178. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  136. 
•  Ibid.,  p.  138. 


I20  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [120 

the  necessary  capital.  The  group  that  felt  the  advance  in 
wages  most  severely  consisted  of  "  the  less  progressive  fac- 
tory occupiers  and  small  masters,  who  working  neither  with 
the  careful  organization  of  the  former  nor  with  the  intense 
and  highly  skilled  male  labor  of  the  latter,  have  held  their 
footing  in  the  industry  mainly  by  employing  the  worst-paid 
women  workers  to  produce  the  cheapest  class  of  goods."  ' 
Some  employers  of  this  type  have  been  driven  out  of  busi- 
ness and  others  remain  only  on  a  precarious  tenure.  But 
as  far  as  the  trade  is  concerned,  all  that  has  happened  is  that 
their  orders  have  passed  to  their  competitors,  who  for  one 
reason  or  another  manage  to  pay  better  wages. 

There  appears  to  be  little  indication  that  employers  have 
attempted  to  shift  the  higher- wage  cost  to  the  consumer  by 
raising  prices  directly.  Such  rise  in  price  as  there  has  been 
seems  to  be  part  of  the  general  increase  in  the  price  of 
clothing  that  began  before  wage  boards  had  been  intro- 
duced in  the  trade.  It  is  possible,  however,  that  some  manu- 
facturers may  have  used  inferior  materials  and  thus  in- 
directly raised  prices  by  lowering  quality.  But  from  the 
data  available  we  cannot  isolate  the  influence  of  Trade  Board 
rulings  in  any  definite  and  clear-cut  way.  The  most  that 
can  be  done  in  the  question  of  the  relation  of  wage  rulings 
to  price  is  to  examine  the  trade  for  the  presence  of  condi- 
tions inherently  likely  to  emphasize  their  effect.  We  have 
seen  already  that  the  years  before  the  Trade  Board  was 
appointed  were  years  of  rising  prices,  so  at  least  the 
impulse  to  this  price  movement  did  not  come  with  wage 
regulation.  Moreover,  in  the  second  place,  the  probability 
of  increased  prices  being  due  to  cost  of  labor  is  connected 
closely  with  the  importance  of  labor  cost  in  production. 
The  proportion  which  wages  forms  of  the  total  cost  of 
production  varies  with  the  grade  of  clothing.     In  the  more 

1  Tawney,  op.  cit.,  p.  104. 


! 2 1 ]      EFFEC TS  OF  MINIM UM- WA GE  LEGISLA TION         I21 

expensive  suits  the  labor  element  is  relatively  more  impor- 
tant. Fairly  extensive  inquiry  brought  out  the  fact  that 
wages  form  from  one-quarter  to  one-third  of  the  total  cost 
of  production.  This  would  mean  that  an  increase,  say  of 
ten  per  cent,  in  wages  would  mean  an  increase  in  the  cost 
of  production  of  from  two  and  a  half  per  cent  to  something 
over  three  per  cent.  Under  these  circumstances,  it  is  ob- 
vious that  even  if  we  granted  no  increase  in  the  efficiency 
of  individual  worker  or  of  business  organization,  the  rise  in 
wages  to  the  level  of  the  minimum  rates  would  make  only 
a  small  addition  to  the  total  cost  of  production.  We  must 
remember  also  that  it  is  only  in  certain  districts  that  the  in- 
creased wage  bill  has  been  seriously  felt.  Some  localities 
have  been  affected  scarcely  at  all.  And  since  manufacturers 
of  all  these  districts  are  competitors  in  the  same  market, 
"  it  is  very  doubtful  whether  those  manufacturers  whose 
wages  bills  have  been  increased  can  place  the  extra  cost  on 
to  the  consumer,  when  their  competitors  are  selling  (as  far 
as  the  Trade  Board  is  concerned)  at  the  same  prices  as 
before."  x 

One  of  the  most  significant  facts  that  the  investigation  of 
the  tailoring  trade  brought  out  is  that  wages  are  frequently 
low  not  because  the  industry  cannot  afford  higher  rates,  but 
because  certain  employers  take  advantage  of  special  labor 
situations.  These  are  the  lack  of  other  opportunities  offered 
for  the  employment  of  women  and  the  character  of  the 
other  employment  followed  by  men.  The  presence  of  com- 
peting industrial  employments  for  women,  as  in  Leeds  or 
Manchester,  forces  higher  the  wages  of  women  in  all  trades ; 
the  uncertainty  of  the  earnings  of  men  workers  among  the 
clock  laborers  and  other  casual  employments  in  East  Lon- 
don, for  example,  increases  the  economic  pressure  upon  the 
women  of  the  group  and  depresses  their  wages  to  the  level 

1  Tawney,  op.  cit.,  p.  101. 


I22  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [122 

of  what  the  most  helpless  will  take.  Establishing  minimum 
rates  of  pay  has  tended  to  even  the  local  variations  in  the 
level  of  wages  by  depriving  certain  employers  of  an  ad- 
vantage they  have  had  in  being  able  to  maintain  their  posi- 
tion by  cheap  labor.  It  has  established  a  new  level  of  effi- 
ciency for  employers  measured  by  the  ability  to  pay  a  mini- 
mum wage  to  employees. 

On  the  whole,  the  experience  with  wage  legislation  both 
in  Victoria  and  in  Great  Britain  has  been  to  encourage 
those  who  advocated  it  as  a  remedy  for  low  wages  and  their 
attendant  evils.    To  its  opponents  in  this  country,  however, 
it  fails  to  carry  conviction.    First,  because  conclusions  based 
upon  its  working  in  England  are  still  somewhat  tentative, 
and  its  opponents  are  not  as  much  impressed  by  its  tenden- 
cies as  are  its  advocates.     Secondly,  the  difference  in  the 
conditions  under  which  the  principle  of  wage  legislation  has 
been  tried  in  Victoria — the  application  to  men  as  well  as 
to  women,  the  homogeneous  population  of  the  country,  the 
different  industrial  conditions — all  these  vitiate  its  value  as 
an  object  lesson  for  America.     As  one  critic  says,  "  if  we 
knew  all  about  the  ultimate  effect  of  the  same  or  other  sys- 
tems in  foreign  countries,  we  still  would  have  to  meet  the 
incontestable  proposition  that  to  insure  the  same  general  re- 
sults from  any  remedy,  it  must  be  the  same  remedy  applied 
under  the  same  general  conditions."  1     Whatever   limits 
are  placed  upon  the  value  of  foreign  experience,  at  least  it 
must  be  admitted  that  within  its  own  sphere  it  has  justified 
the  hopes  of  its  advocates  without  confirming  the  fears  of 
its  opponents.    Conflicting  evidence  is  to  be  expected.    That 
certain  employers  who  suffer  from  it  will  be  inclined  to 
generalize  their  individual  plight  into  an  industrial  crisis  is 
perhaps  not  unnatural.     That  some  industries  will  feel  its 

1  The  Minimum   Wage  by  Law.     Issued  by  Minimum   Wage   Com- 
mittee, National  Civic  Federation  (New  York,  1916),  p.  43. 


I23]      EFFECTS  OF  MINIMUM-WAGE  LEGISLATION         l2* 

influence  more  than  others  has  been  pointed  out  as  natural 
and  inevitable.  But  one  cannot  ignore  the  fact  that  no  sub- 
stantial body  of  facts  refutes  the  results  of  those  who  de- 
fend the  general  benefits  of  wage  legislation,  nor  can  one 
be  blind  to  the  great  fact  that  the  principle  has  been  steadily 
extended  where  it  has  been  longest  in  operation. 

Since  American  experience  will  influence  most  the  mini- 
mum-wage movement  in  this  country,  however,  it  is  well 
that  we  already  have  made  a  beginning  on  the  inquiry. 
The  effects  of  minimum-wage  determinations  on  the  brush 
industry  in  Massachusetts,  on  retail  stores  in  Massachusetts 
and  Oregon,  and  on  a  wide  variety  of  occupations  in  the  State 
of  Washington,  are  now  available  for  our  examination. 
What  guidance  do  they  offer  for  the  minimum-wage  move- 
ment? 

Scarcely  a  year  after  the  wage  decree  went  into  effect 
in  the  brush  industry,  the  Massachusetts  Minimum  Wage 
Commission  undertook  a  re-inspection  of  the  brush  fac- 
tories to  ascertain  the  effect  of  the  rates  upon  the  industry.1 
A  comparison  of  weekly  rates  of  pay  in  1913,  the  year  be- 
fore the  wage  ruling  was  made,  and  in  191 5,  eleven  months 
after  it  went  into  effect,  shows,  as  regards  rates  of  pay, 
marked  changes  in  the  wage  scale.  For  example,  in  191 3 
forty-six  per  cent  of  the  women  workers  Avere  offered  less 
than  six  dollars  a  week,  whereas  in  191 5  only  a  tenth  were 
paid  at  this  rate.  In  191 3  three- fourths  of  the  group  were 
paid  at  a  rate  of  less  than  seven  dollars  and  nearly  nine- 
tenths  at  a  rate  of  less  than  eight  dollars;  in  191 5  only 
seventeen  per  cent  worked  at  a  lower  rate  than  seven  dol- 
lars, and  only  twenty-one  per  cent  worked  at  a  lower  rate 
than  eight  dollars.  The  most  notable  change  in  any  single 
wage  class  came  in  the  group  rated  between  eight  and  nine 

1  Massachusetts  Minimum  Wage  Commission,  Bulletin  no.  7  (Boston, 
1915),  p.  6. 


I24  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [124 

dollars  a  week.  In  19 13  it  contained  only  five  per  cent  of 
the  total  number  of  women.  In  191 5  it  contained  sixty- 
eight  per  cent.  This  was  due,  of  course,  to  the  fact  that 
the  minimum  rate,  fifteen  and  a  half  cents  an  hour  for  a 
fifty- four-hour  week,  would  make  the  minimum  weekly  rate 
fall  into  this  group.  But  at  the  same  time  it  is  important 
to  note  that  the  proportion  rated  at  over  nine  dollars  a  week 
doubled  from  5.6  per  cent  in  1913  to  1-1.3  Per  cent  m  I9I5- 
Although  employers  largely  had  complied  with  the  de- 
cree of  the  Minimum  Wage  Commission  in  offering  higher 
rates  of  pay,  the  pay-rolls  showed  that  employees  in  large 
numbers  continued  to  earn  less  than  a  living  wage.1  Actual 
weekly  earnings  were  recorded  for  521  workers  in  the 
second  week  in  June  of  191 3,  and  for  485  in  the  corres- 
ponding week  of  191 5.  In  June,  191 5,  over  two- thirds 
(68.5)  actually  received  less  than  eight  dollars  a  week; 
nearly  two-fifths  received  under  seven  and  nearly  one-fifth 
under  six.  Large  as  this  proportion  is,  it  shows  an  im- 
provement, however,  over  the  situation  in  191 3.  Then 
over  four-fifths  (84.2)  made  less  than  eight  dollars,  over 
three- fourths  (75.4)  less  than  seven,  and  three-fifths  (61.4) 
less  than  six.  But  the  fact  remains  that  even  after  estab- 
lishing a  minimum  rate  of  pay,  earnings  continued  to  be 
inadequate  for  a  very  large  proportion  of  those  employed. 
The  tendency  to  establish  earnings  on  a  higher  level  is  seen 
most  clearly  in  the  changes  effected  in  the  wage  groups 
"  $4  and  under  5,"  "  $5  and  under  6,"  and  "  $6  and  under 
7."  The  decreases  in  the  proportions  earning  these  sev- 
eral amounts  are  striking  and  point  to  a  distinct  leveling-up 
of  wages.  On  the  other  hand,  the  proportion  earning  above 
the  minimum  rates  increased  from  ten  per  cent  (10.2)  to 
nearly  twenty  (19.4).     This  would  indicate  that  there  has 

1  Massachusetts  Minimum  Wage  Commission,  op.  cit.,  p.  8. 


I25]      EFFECTS  OF  MINIMUM-WAGE  LEGISLATION         ^5 

been  no  leveling-down  of  earnings  toward  the  minimum — 
in  other  words,  there  does  not  appear  to  be  a  tendency  for 
the  minimum  to  become  the  maximum. 

The  Commission  found,  further,  that  the  wage  increases 
had  been  made  with  no  untoward  effect  upon  employment 
in  the  industry  as  a  whole.  In  the  sixteen  firms  from  whom 
information  was  obtained,  the  total  number  of  women 
employed  had  increased  from  332  to  334 ;  the  total  number 
of  minors  employed  had  increased  from  36  to  51 ;  and  the 
total  number  of  men  employed  decreased  from  472  to  41 7.1 
These  figures  are  important  as  far  as  the  sum  total  of  em- 
ployment is  concerned,  but  they  do  not  reflect  the  changes 
that  may  have  taken  place  within  the  labor  group  employed. 

The  data  throw  no  light  on  the  question  of  the  possible 
substitution  of  less  efficient  for  the  more  efficient  workers, 
nor  upon  the  contrary  tendency  of  weeding-out  the  ineffi- 
cient. They  do  not  refer  in  any  way  to  the  influence  upon 
the  relative  numbers  of  learners  and  apprentices  in  the 
labor  group.  They  do  not  indicate  whether  employment 
has  been  maintained  perhaps  by  the  expansion  of  certain 
establishments  and  the  reduction  of  the  force  in  others; 
nor  is  any  substantial  information  given  upon  the  effect  of 
wage  rates  upon  management,  although  it  is  suggested  that 
readjustments  have  been  made  in  individual  cases. 

In  addition  to  employment,  the  Commission  selected  the 
I  value  of  the  output  as  a  second  index  of  business  conditions 
i  operating  promptly  in  showing  changes  in  an  industry. 
From  data  furnished  by  the  State  Statistics  of  Manufacture, 
the  Commission  shows  that  from  191 3  to  191 4  the  number  of 
brush-making  establishments  increased  from  twenty-seven 
to  thirty,  the  capital  invested  from  $2,771,038  to  $3,286,- 
997,  the  value  of  stock  and  materials  used  from  $2,059,146 

1  Massachusetts  Minimum  Wage  Commission,  op.  cit.,  p.  II. 


I26  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [I26 

to  $2,232,684  and  the  value  of  product  from  $3,740,615  to 
$3,914,029.'  These  figures  are  offered  as  their  own  com- 
mentary on  the  growth  of  the  industry  in  the  period  fol- 
lowing the  acceptance  of  the  wage  decree.  The  Commis- 
sion found  that  compliance  with  the  law  was  general,  almost 
complete.  This  was  true  even  with  one  very  large  firm 
that  claimed  to  have  discharged  many  of  its  low-paid  em- 
ployees on  account  of  the  wage  ruling.  This  firm  also 
alleged  that  "  the  minimum-wage  requirements  had  been  of 
great  detriment  to  its  business,  causing  it  to  refuse  large 
orders."  2  Some  manufacturers  stated  that  "  no  effects 
whatsoever  had  been  felt  from  the  operation  of  the  mini- 
mum-wage law."  3  Others  thought  "  minimum-wage  re- 
quirements were  only  a  secondary  condition,  that  of  first 
importance  being  the  prison  competition."  * 

In  concluding  its  report,  the  Commission  stated  that  no 
employer  had  taken  advantage  of  that  provision  of  the  law 
that  would  enable  him  to  secure  a  judicial  review  of  the 
Commission's  wage  decree  on  the  ground  that  conformance 
to  the  rates  would  prevent  his  doing  business  at  a  reason- 
able profit.  "  The  decree,"  it  reported,  "  has  been  com- 
plied with  in  practically  every  instance.  The  increases 
in  wages  have  been  large  throughout  the  industry,  and  at 
the  same  time  the  capital  invested  in  the  industry  and  the 
value  of  the  product  have  materially  increased.  The  em- 
ployment of  women  and  minors  has  not  given  way  to  the 
employment  of  men,  nor  has  the  minimum  become  the 
maximum."  5 

1  Massachusetts  Minimum  Wage  Commission,  op.  cit.,  p.  11. 

*Ibid.,  p.  10. 

zIbid. 

4  Ibid. 

6  Ibid.,  p.  12. 


12y]      EFFECTS  OF  MINIMUM-WAGE  LEGISLATION         l2y 

A  Report  by  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Merchants 
and  Manufacturers  of  Massachusetts,  about  a  year  after 
that  of  the  Commission,  sharply  challenges  it.1  The  claims 
of  the  Commission  for  the  successful  and  peaceful  opera- 
tion of  the  law  are  answered  by  a  petition  which  had  been 
filed  recently  with  'the  Commission,  by  seven  leading  brush 
manufacturers  asking  for  "  the  immediate  quashing  of  the 
decree  in  the  brush  industry,"  ~  and  by  extracts  from  letters 
received  from  brush  manufacturers.  A  statement  is  ap- 
pended to  the  report  from  one  of  the  oldest  and  largest  firms 
showing  a  decrease  of  one  hundred  and  eighty-five  in  the 
number  of  women  and  minor  workers  employed  in  corres- 
ponding weeks  of  September,  191 3  and  191 5,  with  a  con- 
sequent loss  of  earnings  of  $853.76.  According  to  this 
firm,  the  effect  of  the  decree  had  been  practically  to  stop 
the  manufacture  of  the  lowest-priced  and  many  medium- 
priced  brushes,  the  kinds  most  largely  used,  and  to  drive  the 
trade  to  other  states.  Moreover,  not  a  dollar's  worth  of 
the  large  export  army  and  navy  orders  for  England  and 
France  had  been  manufactured  in  Massachusetts.  These 
orders  had  gone  instead  to  competitors  in  other  states — a 
direct  result  of  a  minimum-wage  law  that  had  increased 
wages  from  25  per  cent  to  40  per  cent  in  Massachusetts 
over  the  rates  paid  in  other  states  in  an  industry  that  is 
severely  competitive.  Actual  unemployment  and  a  retarded 
development  of  the  industry,  the  Executive  Committee 
directly  charged  to  the  working  of  the  law. 

The  Minimum  Wage  Commission  had  assumed  that  an 
increased  value  of  stock  and  materials  and  of  the  finished 
product  was  evidence  that  the  industry  had  prospered  even 

1The  Minimum  Wage:  A  Failing  Experiment.  Published  by  the 
Executive  Committee  of  Merchants  and  Manufacturers  of  Massachu- 
setts (Boston,  1916). 

2  Ibid.,  p.  23. 


I2g  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [128 

though  forced  to  pay  higher  wages.  In  reply  to  this  state- 
ment, the  Executive  Committee  pointed  out  that  it  had  been 
due  chiefly  to  the  increased  cost  of  the  bristles,  which  form 
"  a  very  large  percentage  of  the  entire  cost  of  manufacture 
and  of  stock  materials."  x  The  war  cut  off  the  European 
supply,  and  the  purchase  of  bristles  had  to  be  made  in  the 
Orient  and  elsewhere  at  an  average  advance  of  between  30 
and  40  per  cent  in  price.  In  the  opinion  of  the  Committee, 
"  the  bristle  situation  amply  accounts  for  every  dollar  of 
this  increase,  and  more."  The  increase  in  invested  capital 
is  naturally  explained  by  the  advent  of  three  new  brush- 
making  establishments.  These  new  factories  were  accounted 
for  by  a  large  bristle  importer  as  due  to 

the  increased  home  market  for  brushes  since  the  outbreak  of 
the  European  war,  which  has  necessitated  the  furnishing  of 
an  abnormal  quantity  of  brushes  for  home  use  by  the  manu- 
facturers of  the  United  States,  to  take  the  place  of  the  enor- 
mous quantity  manufactured  in  Europe  and  exported  to  the 
United  States  prior  to  the  war's  outbreak.2 

Judging  the  working  of  the  law  on  a  basis  of  these  re- 
ports one  finds  in  the  statements  of  the  employers'  repre- 
sentatives ample  evidence  to  qualify  the  complacency  with 
which  the  Commission  regards  the  act,  but  there  are  so 
many  unanswered  questions,  so  many  gaps  in  the  argument 
of  each  that  it  would  require  a  fresh  examination  of  the 
industry  to  establish  any  definite  conclusions  on  even  the 
tendencies  of  the  law.  It  is  not  without  significance,  how- 
ever, that  in  spite  of  the  sweeping  condemnation  of  the 
most  substantial  manufacturer  referred  to  above,  the  same 
firm  states  that  "  if  the  law  is  to  continue  it  should  be  tried 
out  in  a  manner  to  demonstrate  it  practically,  by  applying 
it  to   several   of   the   larger  manufacturing   industries."  3 

1  The  Minimum  Wage,  op.  cit.,  p.  26. 

7  Ibid.,  p.  26. 

3  Ibid.,  p.  37.  .   . 


I2g]      EFFECTS  OF  MINIMUM-WAGE  LEGISLATION        I2g 

The  writer  would  also  add  the  suggestion  that  the  actual 
working  of  the  law  be  tested  not  by  the  Commission  which 
becomes  a  judge  in  its  own  case,  nor  by  manufacturers 
whose  opinions  and  conclusions  are  too  open  to  the  charge 
of  prejudice,  but  by  a  state  authority,  or  preferably  the 
Pederal  Government  with  official  access  to  factory  records, 
etc.  Such  an  investigation  must  be  carried  out  on  much 
broader  lines  than  those  hitherto  laid  down,  if  we  are  to 
secure  results  of  substantial  value. 

A  more  detailed  examination  of  the  effect  of  wage  legis- 
lation is  that  made  by  the  authority  of  the  United  States 
Department  of  Labor  in  Oregon.1  The  study  was  confined 
to  retail  stores — the  only  industry  in  which  at  that  time 
there  had  been  a  thoroughgoing  application  of  minimum 
rates  to  a  fairly  large  number  of  women  employees.  It 
was  begun  in  the  fall  of  19 14,  a  year  after  wage  rulings 
had  been  made  for  store  employees  in  Portland  and  nearly 
nine  months  after  they  had  been  made  for  store  employees 
outside  of  Portland.  Retail  stores  in  Portland  and  Salem 
furnish  the  data  of  the  investigation. 

It  may  be  well  to  state  at  the  outset  that  reservations, 
which  were  recognized  frankly  by  the  investigators  them- 
selves, must  be  made  on  the  findings  of  the  investigation. 
As  in  other  similar  studies,  the  results  show  only  tendencies. 
I  The  numbers  of  women  affected  in  the  State  of  Oregon 
were  too  small  and  the  time  for  the  adjustments  both  for 
the  business  interests  concerned  and  the  state  authorities 
was  too  short "  to  warrant  conclusive  statements.  The 
writer  of  the  report  wisely  points  out  that, 

regardless  of  minimum-wage  determinations,  there  are  con- 
stant changes  in  business  organization  from  year  to  year  which 
have  a  material  bearing  upon  the  opportunities  and  conditions 

1  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics.    Bulletin  176. 


0  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [130 

of  employment.  New  departments  are  added  from  time  to 
time,  successful  departments  are  expanded,  and  other  depart- 
ments which  have  failed  to  secure  the  public  recognition  ex- 
pected are  curtailed  and  sometimes  eliminated.  All  such  re- 
arrangements involve  additions  to  transfers,  or  reductions  in 
the  labor  force.     These  adjustments  are  of  common  occur- 


rence. 


In  view  of  these  facts  it  is  necessary  that  the  effect 
of  minimum-wage  legislation  be  watched  closely  for  a 
period  of  time  that  shall  include  various  fluctuations  in 
business  conditions,  and  a  careful  effort  must  be  made  to 
distinguish  effects  due  to  its  working  from  those  due  to 
other  influences. 

Subject  to  this  general  qualification,  what  can  be  said  of 
the  results  of  wage  legislation  in  Oregon  ?  The  point  prob- 
ably least  open  to  dispute  on  the  ground  of  specific  influence 
is  that  of  wage  rates.  Following  the  Commission's  wage 
determinations,  it  became  unlawful  to  employ  any  woman 
or  girl  in  Oregon  at  a  rate  of  less  than  $6  a  week.  Fur- 
thermore, no  woman  eighteen  years  of  age  or  over  with 
one  year's  experience  in  a  store  occupation  can  be  employed 
for  less  than  $9.25  a  week  in  Portland  or  for  less  than  $8.25 
per  week  in  other  parts  of  the  state  in  the  same  occupation. 
The  investigators  obtained  from  the  pay-rolls  the  prevail- 
ing rates  of  pay  for  all  classes  of  women  and  for  the  special 
groups  created  by  the  application  of  the  law.2  On  the  basis 
of  these  data,  certain  conclusions  regarding  wage  rates  may 
be  drawn.  ( 1 )  Any  rate  lower  than  $6  a  week  had  been 
practically  abolished  by  compliance  with  the  Commission's 
ruling.  The  group  profiting  the  most  by  this  change  was 
naturally  that  made  up  of  girls  under  eighteen  years  of  age. 

1  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  op.  cit.,  p.  7. 
3  Ibid.,  pp.  18-22. 


!  3 1  ]      EFFEC  TS  OF  MINIM  UM-  WA  GE  LEG  I  SLA  TION         1t>1 

Prior  to  the  wage  determinations,  twenty-six  per  cent  of  the 
girls  in  this  group  were  rated  at  less  than  six  dollars  a  week. 
After  the  determinations,  only  one  was  found  in  the  Port- 
land stores  and  another  in  the  Salem  stores  who  was  en- 
tered on  the  pay-rolls  at  less  than  the  minimum  rate.  The 
average  rate  of  pay  for  these  girls  increased  thirty-one 
cents  per  week.  (2)  For  all  classes  of  employees  the  per 
cent  receiving  $6  a  week  had  increased  slightly.  The 
changes  in  this  group  were  most  marked  for  those  under 
eighteen  years  of  age  and  for  the  inexperienced  adults. 
They  seem  to  have  been  brought  about  in  the  first  group 
without  any  lowering  of  the  wages  of  those  who  had  been 
receiving  more  than  six  dollars  a  week.  The  proportion  in 
this  wage  class  increased  in  Portland  from  55.80  per  cent 
to  79.38  per  cent,  while  the  proportion  earning  over  $6  re- 
mained constant.  The  same  was  true  in  the  Salem  stores. 
As  the  report  states, 

the  fact  that  20  per  cent  were  still  receiving  more  than  $6, 
although  in  a  group  for  which  the  awards  stipulated  only  that 
they  should  be  paid  not  less  than  six  dollars,  shows  that  em- 
ployers did  not  reduce  wages  of  minors  to  the  minimum  per- 
mitted by  the  wage  determinations,  but  continued  to  pay  wages 
as  before  on  the  basis  of  the  value  of  the  services  rendered.1 

The  change  was  effected  in  a  somewhat  different  way  for 
inexperienced  adult  women.  Before  the  new  wage  rates 
were  made,  nearly  fifty-nine  per  cent  of  these  women  re- 
ceived more  than  six  dollars  a  week;  afterwards  only  fifty 
per  cent.  The  increase  in  the  number  receiving  six  dollars 
seems,  thus,  to  have  been  made  up  not  only  of  those  who 
were  before  receiving  less  than  that  amount,  as  in  the  case 
of  minors,  but  includes  also  some  who  had  before  received 
more  than  that  sum.    It  should  be  noted  that  the  proportion 

1  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  op.  cit.,  p.  20. 


I32  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [132 

of  this  group  receiving  more  than  nine  dollars  and  twenty- 
five  cents  increased.  But  the  general  trend  in  the  rates  is 
downward.  (3)  The  proportion  receiving  the  minimum 
rate  increased  from  8.5  per  cent  to  23.2  per  cent  in  Port- 
land, and  from  8.4  to  22.4  per  cent  in  Salem.  This  change 
was,  of  course,  due  chiefly  to  the  increase  of  rates  for  ex- 
perienced adult  women.  The  numbers  in  this  group  paid  at 
that  rate  increased  from  12  per  cent  to  nearly  30  per  cent. 
This  was  accomplished  with  no  reduction,  but  rather  a  slight 
increase,  in  the  proportion  receiving  over  the  minimum 
rates.  (4)  It  is  undoubtedly  true  that  the  rates  of  pay  of 
women  as  a  whole  have  been  increased.  Regardless  of  age 
and  experience,  they  now  begin  their  wage-earning  career 
in  stores  at  not  less  than  six  dollars  a  week.  This  has  been 
of  unqualified  value  to  minors,  but  apparently  some  inex- 
perienced adults  receive  less  than  before  the  wage  deter- 
minations were  made. 

A  comparison  at  this  point  of  actual  earnings,  before  and 
after  the  wage  determinations  were  made,  will  be  a  surer 
index  to  the  benefit  accruing  from  higher  wage  rates.  As 
the  writers  of  the  report  point  out,  the  amount  of  money  a 
woman  actually  receives  is  more  important  than  her  rate  of 
pay.  The  investigators,  therefore,  assembled  data  on  the 
average  weekly  earnings  and  hours  of  labor  before  and 
after  the  minimum-wage  determinations.1  These  data  show 
that  for  all  classes  of  workers  there  was  an  increase  of  8.8 
per  cent  in  actual  earnings  after  the  wage  determinations. 
The  rates  of  pay  increased  during  the  same  period  4.1  per 
cent,  and  this  came  about  with  less  than  a  quarter  of  an 
hour  more  of  service  per  week.  Some  interesting  differ- 
ences are  seen  in  the  different  age  and  experience  groups. 
For  minors,  although  there  had  been  a  five-per-cent  increase 
in  their  rate  of  pay,  there  followed  only  a  three-per-cent  in- 

1  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  op.  cit.,  p.  24. 


^3]      EFFECTS  OF  MINIMUM-WAGE  LEGISLATION         ^3 

crease  in  their  earnings.  At  the  same  time  their  working 
week  was  about  three  per  cent  shorter.  Inexperienced 
adults,  however,  showed  an  increase  of  nearly  seven  per 
cent  in  their  earnings,  which  is  in  striking  contrast  to  the 
six-tenths  of  one  per  cent  decrease  in  rates  of  pay.  This 
probably  is  explained  largely  by  the  six-per-cent  increase  in 
the  number  of  work  hours.  The  third  class,  made  up  of 
experienced  adults,  show  an  increase  in  actual  earnings  of 
four  per  cent  as  compared  with  a  two-per-cent  increase  in 
rates  for  a  working  week  shorter  by  two  and  one-half  per 
cent.  Thus  it  would  seem  that  minors  were  the  group  most 
benefited  by  the  wage  legislation. 

It  is  also  worthy  of  note  that,  as  we  already  have  pointed 
out  in  the  brush  industry,  a  large  proportion  of  women  con- 
tinued to  earn  less  than  the  rates  provided  to  meet  frugal 
but  decent  conditions  of  living.  Only  a  little  more  than 
one-third  of  experienced  adult  women  actually  received 
their  full  rate  of  $9.25  or  $8.25  throughout  the  two  months 
included  in  the  period  of  the  investigation. 

The  influence  of  the  wage  determinations  upon  employ- 
ment is  to  be  found  in  certain  readjustments  within  the  in- 
dustry rather  than  in  actual  unemployment,  which  fre- 
quently is  alleged  to  follow  from  the  attempt  to  fix  wages. 
The  fact  that  there  was  an  actual  decrease  in  the  numbers 
of  women  and  girls  employed  before  and  after  the  mini- 
mum-wage determinations  is  to  be  accounted  for  by  certain 
changes  such  as  might  be  expected  in  a  normal  business 
year  and  by  the  general  depression  of  1910-1914  which 
shows  itself  in  a  marked  reduction  in  sales.  The  establish- 
ment of  new  departments,  the  elimination  of  old  depart- 
ments, the  adoption  of  a  policy  of  charging  for  the  altera- 
tion of  garments — such  changes  as  these  have  a  direct  influ- 
ence upon  the  grade  of  labor  employed.  "  The  decrease  in 
total  numbers  bears  little  or  no  relation  necessarily  to  the 


I34  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [134 

minimum-wage  determinations,  but  the  dismissal  of  partic- 
ular women  rather  than  others  because  they  had  completed 
their  apprenticeship  period  and  must  therefore  be  paid  a 
higher  wage  if  retained,  can  be  considered  as  due  to  the  de- 
terminations." l  In  the  opinion  of  the  investigators,  the 
tendency  to  increase  the  number  of  girls  under  eighteen  can 
be  traced  directly  to  the  wage  determinations.  As  their 
report  points  out, 

there  are  certain  occupations  which  department-store  managers 
contend,  require  little  skill  or  experience  and  do  not  warrant 
a  wage  of  $9.25  per  week.  .  .  .  The  work,  it  is  said,  can  be 
done  by  minors  as  satisfactorily  as  by  adults.  A  number  of 
adult  women  who  were  experienced  in  these  errand-girl  oc- 
cupations when  the  minimum-wage  determinations  took  effect, 
were  transferred  to  other  occupations  to  begin  an  apprentice- 
ship anew ;  others  who  were  not  suited  to  or  for  whom  there 
was  no  opening  in  more  skilled  occupations  such  as  selling, 
sewing,  or  clerical  work,  were  dismissed.  Formerly  no  at- 
tention was  given  to  the  particular  age  of  the  women  entering 
these  positions.  A  girl  of  sixteen  entering  now  as  a  bundle 
wrapper  can  continue  in  the  occupation  for  two  years  before 
she  is  entitled  to  the  minimum  wage  for  experienced  women ; 
another  girl  entering  at  eighteen  years  or  more  must  receive 
the  minimum  in  one  year,  and  therefore  becomes  a  problem 
for  her  employer  a  year  sooner  than  her  younger  sister. 
Naturally  the  minors  are  given  the  preference  in  these  rela- 
tively unskilled  occupations.  In  the  skilled  occupations  minors 
have  decreased.* 

A  tendency  also  seems  to  have  been  at  work  to  dismiss 
girls  at  the  completion  of  their  apprenticeship.  This  would 
naturally  follow  in  the  case  of  women  not  capable  of  doing 
more  than  the  simplest  kind  of  work.    Such  incapacity  may 

1  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  op.  cit.,  p.  8. 

2  Ibid.,    p.  16. 


135]      EFFECTS  0F  MINIMUM-WAGE  LEGISLATION        I$$ 

be  due  in  many  cases  to  a  retarded  mental  development 
occurring  in  otherwise  normal  people.  The  law  which  pro- 
vides for  the  exemption  from  its  application  of  the  physically 
defective  alone,  makes  no  provision  for  cases  of  this  type. 
It  has  not  been  customary  in  the  past  for  women  to  work 
their  way  from  one  occupation  to  another.  Usually  they 
have  had  experience  in  but  one  occupation.  Hence  it  has 
happened  that  the  requirements  of  the  wage  decrees  have 
forced  employers  to  dismiss  the  girls  when  they  have  passed 
beyond  the  stage  of  apprenticeship  during  which  they  may 
work  for  less  than  minimum  rates  of  pay. 

The  report  gives  no  indication  of  the  attitude  of  em- 
ployers on  the  working  of  the  law.  But  it  points  to  a  very 
wide  opinion  among  store  women  that  the  minimum  wage 
had  wrought  only  harm  to  themselves  as  a  whole. 

The  experienced  women  contended  that  formerly  they  had 
gotten  through  the  day  without  any  hurry  or  strain.  If  it  was 
necessary  to  work  a  few  minutes  overtime,  they  did  so  will- 
ingly. Nov/,  they  said,  they  are  under  constant  pressure  from 
their  supervisors  to  work  harder ;  they  are  told  the  sales  of  their 
departments  must  increase  to  make  up  for  the  extra  amount 
the  firm  must  pay  in  wages.  With  business  declining,  this 
was  hardly  a  possibility.  The  result  was  that  the  women 
were  very  worried  and  the  worry  was  intensified  in  November 
1914 — the  month  they  were  visited — because  of  the  fear  that 
large  numbers  would  be  dismissed  after  the  Christmas  rush 
was  over  and  the  dull  days  of  January  confronted  the 
employers.1 

As  the  report  goes  on  to  state, 

these  women  did  not  ask  themselves  to  what  extent  the  same 
conditions  would  have  prevailed  in  a  poor  business  year  had 
there  been  no  wage  regulation.     They  knew  there  were  wage 

1  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  op.  cit.,  p.  68. 


I36  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [136 

and  hour  regulations  and  that  some  women  had  been  benefited, 
but  if  they  had  not  personally  benefited  and  had  only  ex- 
perienced the  pressure  from  above  and  the  fear  from  the 
future,  their  anxiety  found  vent  in  heated  denunciation  of  the. 
minimum  wage  as  the  visible  cause  of  their  jeopardy.  As  ex- 
pressed by  one  assistant  department  head :  "It's  mighty  fine  for 
the  young  girls  beginning  now,  but  for  us,  who  have  worked 
our  way  up  from  the  bottom  to  near  the  top,  to  have  to  see 
that  the  wherewithal  is  made  to  pay  the  younger  girls  a  living 
wage,  is  making  us  pay  a  heavy  price  for  the  benefit  of  the 
next  generation."  * 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  point  out  that  this  reaction  to 
the  law  on  the  part  of  experienced  women  is  just  what  was 
to  be  expected.  As  we  have  seen,  it  was  indeed  the  younger 
workers  who  were  most  benefited  by  the  minimum  rates. 
Many  adults  had  no  change  in  their  rates.  Some  experi- 
enced adults  suffered  an  actual  decrease  in  earnings.  A  few 
experienced  women  returning  to  the  shops  after  a  period 
of  absence  were  compelled  to  accept  the  legal  rate  even 
when  it  was  less  than  the  one  at  which  they  had  been  em- 
ployed previously.  But  there  is  no  evidence  to  show  that 
it  was  due  chiefly  to  minimum-wage  legislation  that  greater 
pressure  to  work  harder  was  brought  to  bear  on  those  who 
were  exempt  from  its  application.  On  the  contrary,  there 
is  reason  to  believe  that  the  women  to  whom  the  rates  did 
not  apply  were  in  the  departments  devoted  to  the  more  ex- 
pensive goods  where  a  business  depression  makes  itself 
most  felt. 

This  opinion  is  confirmed  substantially  by  an  analysis  of 
the  selling  efficiency  of  the  groups  of  women  affected  by 
the  minimum  wage  before  and  after  the  wage  determination 
and  of  those  not  affected  by  it.  The  only  measurement  of 
efficiency  obtainable  was  the  amount  of  sales  of  the  sales- 

1  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  op.  cit.,  p.  68. 


I37]      EFFECTS  OF  MINIMUM-WAGE  LEGISLATION         i^y 

women,  which  is  admittedly  not  a  complete  nor  always  a 
perfectly  fair  basis  upon  which  to  judge.  But,  to  repeat,  it 
was  the  only  measure  obtained.  Data  were  collected  from 
three  stores  in  which  there  were  a  sufficient  number  of 
saleswomen  in  comparable  groups  before  and  after  the 
minimum- wage  determination.1  The  first  noticeable  point 
is  that  the  average  sales  per  day  of  work  in  the  three  stores 
had  decreased  6.2  per  cent  after  the  determinations.  But 
the  average  sales  of  the  women  affected  by  the  minimum 
wage  had  decreased  only  nine-tenths  of  one  per  cent  whereas 
the  sales  of  women  in  the  same  stores  who  had  been  re- 
ceiving more  than  the  minimum,  and  were  not  affected  by 
the  wage  determinations,  decreased  13.3  per  cent.  More- 
over, the  selling  efficiency  shows  a  progressive  decline  the 
higher  the  wages  paid.  Experienced  adult  women  receiv- 
ing over  $15  a  week  had  the  largest  per  cent  (12.9)  of  de- 
crease in  average  daily  sales.  At  the  other  end  of  the  scale 
the  inexperienced  minors  and  adult  women  show  an  actual 
increase  of  6.8  per  cent  in  average  daily  sales.  Probably 
the  most  important  factor  in  producing  these  results  is  the 
customary  employment  of  minors  in  departments  least 
affected  by  a  depression  in  business — departments  such  as 
the  notion  and  handkerchief  departments.  The  data  would 
seem  to  suggest  that  the  complaint  of  the  experienced  that 
they  were  working  harder  to  pay  the  increased  wages  of 
others  than  themselves  is  without  foundation. 

There  is  also  evidence  that  the  new  wage  rates  did  not 
increase  labor  cost  to  such  a  degree  as  in  itself  to  incline 
employers  to  bring  extra  pressure  to  bear  upon  all  their 
employees  to  make  up  for  it.  Estimating  labor  cost  on  the 
basis  of  the  per  cent  which  average  weekly  wage  payments 
were  of  average  weekly  sales  before  and  after  minimum- 
wage  determinations,  the  average  weekly  wage  payments  to 

1  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  op.  cit.,  p.  30. 


I3g  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [138 

women  were  12  per  cent  before  the  rates  were  fixed,  and 
12.3  per  cent  afterwards,  out  of  every  dollar  of  sales.  The 
net  female  labor  cost  was  an  increase  of  three  mills  on 
every  dollar  of  sales.  This  applies  to  the  industry  as  a 
whole.  Variations  in  the  effect  on  different  types  of  stores 
indicate  that  wage  legislation  has  an  uneven  influence.  For 
example,  in  the  Portland  department,  drygoods,  and  five- 
and-ten-cent  stores,  considered  as  one  group,  the  result  of 
the  wages  rates  was  an  increased  labor  cost  for  women  of 
5.6  mills  on  a  dollar  of  sales.  At  the  same  time,  however, 
changes  in  the  male  labor  force  brought  about  a  saving  in 
labor  cost  so  that  the  net  increase  on  a  dollar  of  sales  for  all 
employees  was  4.3  mills.  At  this  point  there  comes  into 
play  a  readjustment  in  the  organization  of  business  that 
offsets  the  increased  labor  cost,  and  confirms  the  contention 
of  minimum-wage  advocates  that  wages  may  be  increased 
without  laying  a  proportionate  burden  upon  the  industry. 
As  the  report  states,  "  the  cost  of  labor  was  kept  within  the 
limits  named  largely  by  money-saving  adjustments  in  the 
female  non-selling  and  in  the  male  selling  force."  x 

In  the  neighborhood  stores,  those  situated  chiefly  in  the 
residential  districts  and  employing  a  comparatively  small 
staff,  there  was  an  increase  of  eight  mills  per  dollar  of  sales. 
This  was  not  connected  with  the  wage  legislation,  but  was 
due  in  part  to  the  decrease  in  sales  brought  about  by  com- 
pliance with  the  six-o'clock  closing  regulations  for  women. 
This  order  hit  especially  those  shops  where  most  of  the 
business  is  done  after  the  downtown  stores  are  closed.  In 
the  Salem  stores  the  increased  sales  made  by  women  re- 
sulted in  a  decrease  in  their  labor  cost  of  1.2  cents  per  dollar 
of  sales.  At  the  same  time,  however,  an  increase  took  place 
in  the  cost  of  male  labor,  so  that  the  net  decrease  in  total 
labor  cost  amounted  to  nine  mills  per  dollar  of  sales.     An- 

1  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  op.  cit.,  p.  33. 


I39]      EFFECTS  OF  MINIMUM-WAGE  LEGISLATION         j^g 

other  group  showing  a  decreased  labor  cost  for  women  was 
the  Portland  specialty  shops  where  there  was  a  decrease  of 
three  mills  per  dollar  of  sales  after  the  wage  rates  were 
fixed.  But  it  should  be  noted  that  the  wage  determinations 
benefited  women  in  these  shops  less  than  in  any  other 
group.  As  the  report  states,  in  the  eleven  shops  of  this 
type  only  about  12  per  cent  of  the  women  employees  were 
affected  by  the  minimum-wage  determinations.  "  Two 
stores  ignored  the  determination  for  experienced  adult 
women;  others  increased  slightly  the  minors  and  adult  ap- 
prentices; still  others  adopted  the  legal  minimum  for  ex- 
perienced adults  as  the  beginning  rate  for  experienced 
women  in  their  stores  in  place  of  the  somewhat  higher  rate 
formerly  paid."  x 

Summarizing  the  most  significant  changes  that  followed 
the  minimum-wage  legislation  in  Oregon,  it  may  be  said 
that  girls  under  eighteen  years  increased  in  numbers  in  the 
unskilled  occupations,  while  inexperienced  adult  women  de- 
creased in  actual  numbers  in  the  selling  departments.  Full- 
time inexperienced  adult  workers  increased,  however,  most 
rapidly  in  the  departments  where  experienced  adult  women 
decreased.  While  the  legal  minimum  wage  of  $6  affected 
minors  and  inexperienced  adults  to  the  greatest  extent,  the 
minimum  rate  of  pay  was  also  raised  for  experienced  adult 
workers,  and  the  proportion  receiving  twelve  dollars  and 
over  increased  after  the  wage  determinations.  For  the  total 
number  of  women  employed,  average  weekly  earnings  in- 
creased almost  ten  per  cent,  yet  contrary  to  the  frequent 
prediction,  there  was  no  substitution  of  men  for  women  at 
the  higher  rates.  Finally,  there  was  an  increase  in  labor 
cost,  but  this  was  offset  to  some  extent  by  readjustments 
in  the  total  employed  group  of  men  and  women. 

The  results  of  a  third  experiment  with  the  working  of 

1  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  op.  cit.,  p.  61. 


I40  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [140 

wage  legislation  in  this  country  are  given  in  the  Second 
Biennial  Report  of  the  Industrial  Welfare  Commission  of 
the  State  of  Washington,  191 5- 191 6.  They  are  embodied 
in  a  survey  made  of  the  employees,  on  the  one  hand,  in 
mercantile  establishments,  and  of  employers,  on  the  other, 
in  mercantile  establishments  and  various  other  lines  of 
trade  and  industry.  The  data  were  collected  in  indi- 
vidual interviews  and  by  questionnaires.  No  attempt  was 
made  at  a  careful  examination  of  reliable  business  records. 
Blanks  were  distributed  to  employers  with  questions  de- 
vised to  check  opinion  by  fact.  Since  only  25  per  cent  of 
the  entire  number  returned  them,  "  it  seems  safe  to  assume," 
states  the  Commission,  "  that  this  form  of  response  may 
not  have  been  desired  by  a  large  group  of  employers  who, 
not  being  in  sympathy  with  legislation  of  this  character, 
were  desirous  of  registering  their  protest  against  it;  and 
that  when  confronted  with  the  necessity  of  submitting  facts 
rather  than  opinions,  they  concluded  to  make  no  response."  * 
The  question  naturally  arises  whether  such  results  should 
not  have  suggested  to  the  Commission  some  more  effective 
way  of  getting  at  the  actual  working  of  the  law.  Of  the 
employers  from  whom  answers  were  obtained,  some  thought 
the  law  was  not  being  enforced ;  some  thought  that  "  the 
law  levels  the  efficient  worker  to  the  place  of  the  minimum- 
wage  class";  some  objected  to  the  law  "because  of  the 
competition  there  is  from  states  wherein  there  is  no  mini- 
mum-wage law " ;  and  others  state  that  "  the  minimum 
wage  established  by  law  has  a  tendency  to  diminish  ambi- 
tion in  the  employee  for  the  reason  that  the  worker  feels 
that  the  employer  will  make  the  legal  minimum  the  maxi- 
mum that  he  will  pay  her."  2     This  kind  of  evidence  has 

1  State  of  Washington  Industrial  Welfare  Commission,  Second  Bien- 
nial Report,  p.  102. 
-  Ibid.,  p.  107. 


I4i]      EFFECTS  OF  MINIMUM-WAGE  LEGISLATION         I4r 

only  the  value  of  personal  opinion,  which  in  a  disputed 
question  like  that  of  minimum-wage  legislation  is  of  very- 
little  import.  The  evidence  that  was  gleaned  from  personal 
interviews  with  women  employed  in  mercantile  establish- 
ments, or  from  the  questionnaires  that  they  filled  out,  is  no 
more  satisfactory.  About  the  most  that  can  be  said  is  that 
of  the  three  thousand  from  whom  the  Commission  attempted 
to  get  information,  874  (29  per  cent)  stated  they  were 
benefited  through  salary  advances  of  from  one  dollar  or 
less,  to  four  dollars  and  more  a  week;  1267  (42.1  per  cent) 
stated  that  the  minimum-wage  law  had  made  no  difference 
in  their  wage  or  work ;  only  28  reported  that  they  wrere  "held 
down  "  by  the  new  wage  law.  Nearly  three-tenths  of  the 
group  made  no  comments  either  because  they  had  not  been 
at  work  before  the  passing  of  the  law,  or  because  they  re- 
fused to  give  the  information  asked  for.1  Without  confir- 
mation from  pay-roll  data,  these  results  are  so  untrust- 
worthy as  to  be  useless.  This  kind  of  report  cannot  be  con- 
demned too  strongly. 

Thus,  with  the  evidence  all  in,  it  is  obvious  that  Amer- 
ican experience  is  as  yet  too  meagre,  and  our  methods  of 
investigation  too  faulty  to  warrant  anything  more  than  the 
most  tentative  conclusions.  It  is  noteworthy,  however,  that 
such  guidance  as  we  can  get  points  to  more  extensive  ex- 
periment with  it.  Nothing  less  than  indisputable  evidence 
of  its  impracticability  can  shake  the  faith  of  its  advocates, 
and  such  testimony  as  we  have  at  present  can  do  nothing 
but  confirm  it.  The  most  urgent  need  is  for  better  methods 
of  investigation  of  results,  accompanying  the  continued  and 
extended  application  of  the  principle  of  wage  legislation. 

Note. — The  importance  of  a  careful  study  of  the  effects  of  minimum- 
wage  legislation  in  the  United  States  can  hardly  be  overstated.     It  is  by 

1  State  of  Washington  Industrial  Welfare  Commission,  op.  cit.,  p.  136. 


I42  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [I42 

their  actual  operation  that  wage  laws  must  finally  be  judged,— not  by  the 
assumptions  or  prejudices  of  their  advocates  and  opponents.  It  is,  there- 
fore, desirable  that  an  effort  be  made  to  examine  in  a  scientific  way  the 
actual  facts  of  the  relation  between  wage  legislation  and  industrial  en- 
terprise. This  should  include  a  study  of  the  effect  of  minimum  rates 
of  pay  on  output,  profits,  prices,  and  the  management  of  industry.  In 
addition  to  this  kind  of  inquiry,  investigation  should  be  made  of  the 
effect,  if  any,  of  wage  legislation  on  general  conditions  of  labor,  on  the 
matter  of  employment,  trade-unionism,  and  the  general  welfare  of  the 
workers. 

To  meet  the  demands  of  such  an  inquiry,  free  access  to  factory 
records  would  be  of  primary  importance,  and  this  could  be  secured  only 
if  the  study  were  made  under  the  authority  of  the  appropriate  govern- 
ment agency,  either  state  or  federal.  It  should  not  be  made  by  the 
group  which  fixed  the  wage  rates,  as,  for  example,  in  the  case  of  the 
investigation  by  the  Massachusetts  Minimum  Wage  Commission  of  the 
working  of  their  own  wage  decree  in  the  brush  industry.  The  findings, 
to  command  confidence,  must  be  entirely  free  from  the  suspicion  «f 
partiality.  They  must  be,  in  short,  the  results  of  an  objective  and 
scientific  examination. 

At  present  no  evidence  of  this  kind  is  available  in  the  industrial  field 
in  the  United  States.  Such  evidence  as  we  have  is  at  best  meagre,  in- 
complete, and  open  to  the  charge  of  bias.  At  worst,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  reported  working  of  the  law  in  Washington,  it  is  thoroughly  un- 
trustworthy. The  study  of  the  effects  of  minimum-wage  legislation  m 
Oregon,  which  is  the  best  that  has  been  made,  is  confined  to  its  opera- 
tion in  department  stores.  By  this  time  it  is  reasonable  to  believe  that 
some  real  value  could  be  derived  from  an  adequate  inquiry  into  the 
working  of  wage  laws  in  the  factories  of  Oregon  and  Washington  and 
in  those  factory  industries  in  which  wage  decrees  have  been  made  in 
Massachusetts.  For  evidence  of  this  kind,  gleaned  from  our  own 
American  experience,  the  sound  progress  of  wage  legislation  waits. 


CHAPTER  VII 
Trade-Unionism  and  Women's  Wages 

The  opposition  to  the  application  of  minimum-wage  laws 
to  men  has  been  peculiar  to  the  labor  movement  in  the 
United  States.  It  has  been  based  in  part  on  the  unwilling- 
ness to  admit  a  rival  method  of  obtaining  those  benefits 
which  constitute  the  inducement  to  join  the  trade  union. 
It  is  possible  to  interpret  this  action  as  a  narrow  policy  of 
restriction,  but  it  has,  we  believe,  a  much  broader  and 
sounder  foundation.  Employers  in  this  country  have  not 
yet  accepted  the  practice  of  collective  bargaining  as  an  in- 
trinsic and  necessary  part  of  modern  industrial  policy.  On 
the  whole  they  regard  trade  unions  openly  or  secretly  with 
antagonism.  In  view  of  this  attitude  it  is  to  be  expected 
that  organized  labor  will  take  no  chances  with  a  movement 
that  bears  even  a  suspicion  of  undermining  its  strength. 

That  men  should  thus  repudiate  for  themselves  a  method 
that  they  endorse  for  women  workers,  would  indicate  their 
lack  of  faith  in  voluntary  associated  effort  among  women. 
In  spite  of  considerable  evidence  to  the  contrary,  the  belief 
still  persists  that  the  trade  union  among  women  is  but  a  con- 
tinued effort  to  organize  an  unorganizable  group  of  work- 
ers, and  that  the  state  must  continue  to  safeguard  them  as 
a  set  unable  to  protect  themselves. 

Looking  at  the  matter  in  the  large,  both  the  minimum- 
wage  movement  and  the  trade-union  movement  are  the  re- 
sult of  labor  and  not  sex  problems.  If  the  method  of  fixing 
a  minimum  wage  for  women  is  sound,  it  should  be  no  less 
143]  143 


I44  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [144 

sound  for  men.  If  collective  bargaining  is  accepted  as  a 
necessary  part  of  the  distributive  process,  it  is  no  less  neces- 
sary for  women  than  for  men.  There  is  no  longer  a  clear- 
cut  division  between  legislation  and  trade-unionism  as  meth- 
ods for  dealing  with  the  labor  problems  of  women  on  the 
one  hand  and  of  men  on  the  other.  The  two  have  become 
closely  intermingled  as  far  as  adult  labor  is  concerned  and 
promise  to  become  even  more  so.  While  legislation  has  been 
the  most  common  way  of  safeguarding  women's  interests, 
the  development  of  labor  organization  among  women  has 
shown  a  steady  and  consistent  growth,  the  leading  features 
of  which  are  so  little  known  that  it  may  not  be  amiss  to 
outline  them  briefly. 

For  nearly  a  century  now,  women  wage-earners  have  re- 
sorted to  collective  action  and  used  the  strike  to  secure 
shorter  hours  and  better  pay.  As  early  as  1825  tailoresses 
in  New  York  City  clubbed  together  for  self-protection 
against  the  inevitable  consequences  of  reduced  and  inade- 
quate wages.  Strikes  of  cotton-mill  operatives  were  not  in- 
frequent in  the  decade  between  1830  and  1840.  Some  of 
these,  as,  for  example,  the  Dover  strike  in  1834  and  the 
Lowell  strike  in  the  same  year,  involved  as  many  as  800 
workers  protesting  against  a  reduction  of  wages.  The 
organization  of  these  groups  seems  to  have  been  spontan- 
eous and  temporary,  holding  together  only  until  the  imme- 
diate grievance  had  been  redressed,  or  breaking-up  in  the 
face  of  failure.  The  most  formal  organization  of  which  we 
have  record  was  that  of  the  women  shoebinders  of  Lynn 
who  in  1833  founded  "The  Female  Society  of  Lynn  and 
Vicinity  for  the  Protection  and  Promotion  of  Female  In- 
dustry." 1  Their  constitution  provided  for  quarterly  dues, 
for  a  price  committee,  for  the  expulsion  of  members  not 

1  Report  on  the  Condition  of  Woman  and  Child  Wage-Earners,  vol. 
x,  p.  41. 


!45]  TRADE-UNIONISM  AND  WAGES  I45 

complying  with  the  regulations  and  prices  adopted  from 
time  to  time,  for  certain  benefit  funds  to  relieve  the  wants 
of  such  members  of  the  society  as  might  be  fit  subjects  of 
charity  in  the  opinion  of  the  standing  committee — provis- 
ions common  to  trade-union  constitutions  of  the  present 
time.  A  remarkable  feature  of  the  organization  was  that  it 
was  made  up  of  home  workers.  The  binding  of  shoes  was 
not  a  factory  industry;  hence  the  organization  lacked  the 
more  promising  condition  of  collective  action  which  is  pres- 
ent in  a  group  of  women  working  in  a  common  workplace. 
Scattered  throughout  their  individual  homes,  they  finally 
were  driven  into  united  action  by  the  low  piece  rates  that 
no  length  of  working  day  would  total  into  an  amount  that 
would  provide  the  necessaries  of  life.  The  organization 
seems  to  have  been  successful  in  regulating  prices;  but 
after  an  existence  of  some  six  months  the  union  began  to 
show  signs  of  weakness.  More  than  three-fourths  of  the 
members  had  broken  the  constitution  either  by  working  for 
less  than  the  union  scale  of  rates  or  by  failing  to  pay  their 
dues.  In  spite  of  resolutions  to  strengthen  the  organiza- 
tion, it  appears  to  have  broken  up  entirely. 

These  and  similar  instances  of  trade-union  spirit  and 
activity  indicate  that  women  have  had  their  part  in  labor 
organization  from  the  very  beginning  of  the  movement  in 
this  country.  It  is  not,  however,  until  after  1890  that  trade- 
union  organization  among  industrial  women  achieves  any 
real  importance  as  a  permanent  force.  In  the  fifty  years 
between  1840  and  1890  there  are  two  separate  phases  of 
the  labor  movement,  both  having  distinct  bearing  upon 
trade-union  policy.  The  first  period,  which  may  be  said  to 
have  ended  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War,  was  clearly 
distinguished  by  a  strong  humanitarian  spirit,  lofty  social 
enthusiasms,  and  more  or  less  vague  plans  of  social  reform. 
It  was  the  age  of  Brook  Farm  and  other  Utopian  experi- 


I45  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [I46 

ments.  "  Not  a  reading  man  but  has  a  draft  of  a  new 
community  in  his  waistcoat  pocket,"  wrote  Emerson  to 
Carlyle  in  1840.  Members  of  the  Brook  Farm  community 
were  leading  spirits  in  the  organization  of  the  New  Eng- 
land Workingmen's  Association,  made  up  of  men  and 
women,  trade-unionists  and  social-reformers.  The  evils  of 
long  hours  and  of  the  factory  system  were  discussed  at  the 
annual  conventions.  Resolutions  were  passed  denouncing 
the  over-crowded  conditions  in  factory  boarding-houses,  the 
fourteen-hour  system  of  labor  and  the  short  time  allowed 
for  meals.  From  the  specific  criticism  of  working  condi- 
tions, however,  the  conventions  frequently  departed  into 
wider  fields  of  social  interest.  The  question  of  women's 
rights,  the  problem  of  slavery,  the  character  of  modern 
social  organization,  and  the  need  for  a  radical  change  that 
should  insure  "  a  fair  and  general  distribution  of  the  profits 
of  labor  " — debate  on  questions  of  this  type  was  mingled 
with  those  more  directly  connected  with  earnings  and  hours 
of  labor. 

On  the  whole,  however,  it  was  a  period  notable  for  a 
vigorous  labor  agitation  of  the  most  practical  kind,  which 
centered  in  the  demand  for  the  ten-hour  day.  The  most 
spirited  attempt  to  secure  the  shorter  working  day  by  strik- 
ing for  it  was  made  by  girls  in  the  cotton  mills  of  Western 
Pennsylvania  in  1844.  The  immediate  outcome  was  fail- 
ure, but  the  invincible  spirit  of  the  leaders  is  indicated  by 
one  of  them  who  wrote  to  the  Pittsburgh  Spirit  of  Liberty. 

We  have  been  asked  whether  we  do  not  intend  to  give  up  the 
effort  to  introduce  the  ten-hour  system,  since  the  operatives 
have  returned  to  work  on  the  old  terms.  Certainly  not  .  .  . 
We  have  made  arrangements  for  continuing  the  warfare  by 
meetings,  associations,  etc.,  a  correspondence  will  be  opened 
with  the  operatives  eastward,  a  publication  devoted  to  the 
cause  is  projected,  and  we  have  received  the  first  number  of 


I47]  TRADE-UNIONISM  AND  WAGES  I47 

a  monthly  tract  commenced  by  the  Lowell  operatives  since  the 
strike  took  place. 

This  spirit  was  matched  by  the  textile  workers  in  New  Eng- 
land, especially  in  Lowell  and  Manchester.  As  a  result  of 
this  agitation  conducted  chiefly  by  workingwomen  them- 
selves, ten-hour  legislation  was  enacted  successively  in  New 
Hampshire  (1847),  Maine  (1848),  Pennsylvania  (1848), 
New  Jersey  (1851),  and  Rhode  Island  (1853).  It  must 
not  be  inferred  that  the  ten-hour  day  was  thus  established 
and  upheld  by  law.  The  practice  of  "  contracting  "  out  was 
permitted,  and  manufacturers  generally  refused  to  employ 
those  who  would  not  make  individual  contracts  to  work  for 
longer  hours.  But  the  movement  marked  the  initial  move 
of  protective  labor  legislation  —  a  method  of  defense  des- 
tined to  become  increasingly  effective  as  its  form  and  ad- 
ministration were  technically  perfected.  Industrial  women 
of  half  a  dozen  states  were  working  in  a  common  cause,  an 
experience  tending  to  deepen  and  strengthen  solidarity  and 
cooperation.  Under  the  leadership  of  such  women  as  Sarah 
G.  Bagley  and  Hulda  J.  Stone,  who  had  themselves  worked 
in  cotton  factories,  a  stirring  publicity  campaign  was  waged. 
In  spite  of  half-organized  and  generally  unsuccessful  strikes 
the  activity  of  united  industrial  women  had  a  far-reaching 
influence  upon  public  opinion  and  the  later  course  of  labor 
legislation. 

Lack  of  continuity  is  a  marked  characteristic  of  the  labor 
j  movement.  Periods  of  vigorous  agitation  and  a  strong 
show  of  trade-union  spirit  and  policy  have  alternated  with 
periods  of  inactivity  when  reliance  upon  voluntary  com- 
bined effort  to  redress  the  ever-existing  grievances  would 
seem  to  have  been  entirely  discarded.  The  long  financial 
depression  that  followed  the  panic  of  1837,  followed  by  the 
1  first  appreciable  invasion  of  American  industry  by  Irish 
i  immigrants,  put  a  quietus  upon  the  active  labor  movement 


I4g  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [148 

of  the  early  thirties.  Similarly,  the  even  more  vigorous 
movement  of  the  forties  and  fifties  declined  with  the  out- 
break of  the  Civil  War. 

In  the  years  following  the  close  of  the  war  there  was  an- 
other revival  of  trade-union  spirit.  This  was  displayed 
most  effectively  among  the  laundry  workers  in  Troy  and 
the  shoe  workers  in  Lynn.  The  Laundry  Workers'  Union 
appears  to  have  been  in  a  flourishing  condition  as  early  as 
April  of  1866,  for  it  was  able  to  contribute  at  that  time 
$1000  from  its  treasury  to  aid  the  striking  iron  moulders 
of  that  city.  Two  years  later  they  gave  $500  to  aid  striking 
bricklayers  in  New  York  City.  The  laundry  workers  are  said 
to  have  raised  their  wages  through  organized  effort  from  $8 
to  $14  a  week.  In  1869,  however,  a  demand  for  another  in- 
crease in  wages  met  the  determined  opposition  of  the  em- 
ployers, with  which  was  combined  a  decision  to  break  up 
entirely  the  workers'  organization.  In  spite  of  the  support 
of  public  opinion  and  notwithstanding  substantial  financial 
aid  from  the  molders'  union,  the  women  were  defeated  and 
the  union  crushed. 

The  shoe  workers  were  distinguished  by  having  the  only 
national  organization  of  women  trade-unionists  in  the 
United  States.  Their  local  organizations  flourished.  Thirty 
of  them  were  represented  at  the  third  general  convention  in 
1 87 1.  But  the  national  organization,  together  with  others, 
practically  disintegrated  in  the  industrial  depression  that 
began  in  1873. 

Numerous  local  organizations  were  formed  among  work- 
ers in  the  sewing  trades  from  New  York  to  Detroit,  among 
the  cap  makers,  umbrella  sewers  and  others.  After  years 
of  opposition  women  were  admitted  in  1869  to  the  Inter- 
national Typographical  Union.  The  first  charter  ever 
granted  by  a  men's  trade  union  to  women  working  at  the 
same  trade  was  granted  in  that  year  to  the  Women's  Typo- 
graphical Union,  No.  1,  of  New  York. 


I49]  TRADE-UNIONISM  AND  WAGES  I49 

Besides  what  may  be  called  bona  fide  trade  unions  there 
were  more  general  organizations  of  mixed  membership  and 
with  purposes  secondary  to  the  labor  interest.  Such,  for 
example,  was  the  Working  Women's  Association  of  New 
York — formed  under  the  leadership  of  the  woman's  suffrage 
group.  There  was  also  the  National  Labor  Union  which 
held  annual  conventions  from  1866  to  1872.  In  this  organ- 
ization, too,  such  suffragists  as  Susan  B.  Anthony  and 
Elizabeth  Cady  Stanton  were  active,  but  trade-union  organ- 
ization was  the  primary  interest  and  it  was  encouraged  in 
every  possible  way. 

By  1876  the  entire  labor  movement  in  America  came 
under  the  influence  of  the  Knights  of  Labor  and  for  nearly 
ten  years  it  was  profoundly  affected  by  the  policies  and 
methods  of  that  body.  For  women  the  experience  of  mem- 
bership in  this  order  was  unique  in  that  for  the  first  time 
they  were  encouraged  to  join  an  organization  on  an  equal 
footing  with  men  and  with  equal  powers.  A  special  de- 
partment of  women's  work  was  created  to  collect  informa- 
tion about  women  at  work  and  a  general  investigator,  Mrs. 
Leonora  M.  Barry,  a  woman  of  practical  industrial  experi- 
ence, was  paid  to  give  all  her  time  to  the  task  of  "  interest- 
ing, organizing  and  educating  working  women.''  For  three 
years  she  did  tireless  work  as  an  organizer  and  student  of 
industrial  women,  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  The  result 
of  her  efforts  did  not  justify  to  herself  (although  this  opin- 
ion was  not  shared  by  many  of  the  Knights  of  Labor)  the 
hope  with  which  she  had  started  the  organization  of  women. 
The  outcome  of  her  experience  was  the  recommendation 
:  that  the  Women's  Department  be  given  up  and  more  lec- 
!  turers  sent  out  to  tell  why  women  "  should  organize  as  a 
Ipart  of  the  industrial  hive,  rather  than  because  they  are 
women."  With  the  resignation  of  Mrs.  Barry,  no  one  else 
was  found  to  assume  the  responsibility  of  the  department 


I50  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [150 

and  the  interest  in  women's  organizations  shared  the  gen- 
eral decline  in  the  influence  of  the  Knights  of  Labor  which 
set  in  during  the  late  eighties.  The  labor  movement  from 
that  time  becomes  identified  with  the  rising  importance  of 
the  American  Federation  of  Labor. 

For  women  the  period  is  especially  notable  in  that  for  the 
first  time  their  trade  unions  became  continuous  permanent 
organizations,  and  became  national  in  scope.  Nearly  75 
years  had  passed  since  cotton-mill  operatives  and  tailoresses 
had  resorted  to  the  strike.  Repeated  use  had  been  made  of 
this  weapon  of  industrial  defense.  But  in  spite  of  experi- 
ence of  organized  effort,  in  spite  of  the  more  or  less  con- 
stant agitation  of  the  problems  of  working  women  by  sym- 
pathizers in  other  classes  and  the  educational  policy  of  the 
more  far-sighted  of  their  own  members,  nothing  more  than 
a  few  years'  duration  had  been  achieved  in  any  organ- 
ization. 

The  first  group  of  women  to  effect  the  organization  of  a 
permanent  trade  union  appears  to  have  been  in  the  hat  indus- 
try. The  Hat  Trimmers'  Union,  composed  of  workers  who 
trim  and  bind  men's  hats,  was  organized  in  Danbury,  Con- 
necticut, in  1885,  and  in  Boston  in  1886.  This  is  almost  en- 
tirely a  woman's  organization.  There  are  a  few  men,  but 
their  number  is  negligible,  and  the  conduct  of  the  union's  af- 
fairs has  always  been  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  women. 
Up  to  the  present  there  has  been  no  national  organization,  al- 
though strong  locals  exist  in  New  York  and  New  Jersey, 
Massachusetts  and  Connecticut — locals  that  are  affiliated 
with  the  American  Federation  of  Labor. 

In  various  other  trades  permanent  organizations  consist- 
ing of  women  only  have  also  been  effected — organizations 
of  bookbinders,  boot  and  shoe  workers,  men's  ready-made 
clothing,  glove  workers,  tobacco  workers,  and  others. 
Where  women  are  sufficiently  numerous  to  organize  locals 


I5I]  TRADE-UNIONISM  AND  WAGES  !5I 

of  their  own,  separate  unions  are  likely  to  be  formed.  It  is 
not  unusual  now  for  men  and  women  to  combine  forces, 
however,  or  for  men  to  admit  women  into  organizations  for 
years  closed  to  them — a  practice  which  is  indicative  of  the 
changed  status  of  women's  collective  action.  "  Leaders  in 
men's  unions,  both  national  and  local,  seem  to  have  much 
more  faith  than  formerly  in  women's  unions."  1 

Besides  having  achieved  permanency  and  a  degree  of 
organization  that  entitles  the  movement  to  be  taken  seri- 
ously, women  have  also  achieved  nation-wide  organization. 
As  Miss  Henry  says,  "  to  organize  a  trade  on  a  national 
scale  is  at  best  a  slow  process,  and  it  naturally  takes  a  much 
longer  time  for  women  to  influence  and  enter  into  the  ad- 
ministrative work  of  a  national  union  than  of  a  separate 
local  union  which  perhaps  they  have  helped  to  found.  They 
are  therefore  too  apt  to  lose  touch  with  the  big  national 
union,  and  even  with  its  local  branch  in  their  own  city."  2 
Even  where  continuous  organization  has  been  attained,  the 
labor  movement  among  women  has  been  essentially  local  in 
character,  and  thus  it  has  been  limited  in  its  range  of  effec- 
tive influence.  With  the  advent  of  the  National  Women's 
Trade  Union  League  in  1904  the  organizations  of  women 
workers  on  a  national  scale  may  be  said  to  have  begun. 
The  growth  of  trade-unionism  among  women  is  very  closely 
bound  up  with  the  League,  which  is  a  federation  of  women's 
unions  with  an  individual  membership  composed  of  those 
women  who  sympathize  with  the  trade-union  movement  al- 
though they  themselves  are  outside  the  ranks  of  industrial 
workers.  The  Women's  Trade  Union  League  was  the  first 
organization  to  devote  itself  to  the  promotion  of  trade 
unions  for  women  wage-earners  on  a  nation-wide  scale. 

1  Report  on  Condition  of  Woman  and  Child  Wage  Earners,  vol.  x, 
p.  152. 

2  Henry,  A.,  The  Trade  Union  Woman,  p.  42. 


I52  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [152 

In  this  respect  it  differs  from  the  early  Labor  Reform 
leagues,  and  from  such  protective  associations  as  the  Work- 
ing Women's  Association  of  New  York  and  the  Working 
Women's  Protective  Union.  This  and  similar  bodies  in- 
cluding in  their  membership  non-industrial  women,  have 
supported  vigorously  and  effectively  the  cause  of  the  woman 
wage-earner  in  the  labor  struggle — but  no  other  movement 
has  been  as  single-minded  in  its  devotion  to  the  organization 
of  women  into  trade  unions,  which  should  be  affiliated  with 
the  regular  labor  movement  as  represented  in  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor.  "  The  League,"  so  Miss  Marot  tells 
us,1  "  was  tolerated  in  its  early  years,  and  many  trade- 
union  officers  regarded  it  indulgently  as  a  passing  whim," 
but  that  attitude  has  long  since  passed  —  dispelled  by  the 
convincing  demonstration  of  sincerity  and  integrity  of  aim 
and  motive.  Such  success  as  attended  the  huge  strikes  in 
the  sewing  trades  in  1910-1911  was  in  large  measure  due 
to  the  backing  of  the  National  League  and  the  local  branches 
especially  in  New  York  and  Chicago.  To  incessant  calls 
for  help  in  time  of  strike,  or  in  the  task  of  organizing,  the 
League  has  responded  generously  with  moral  and  financial 
support.  It  is  probably  not  too  much  to  say  that  to  the 
League  should  be  credited  the  strongest  single  influence  in 
the  marked  growth  of  trade-unionism  among  women,  especi- 
ally since  191 1. 

Two  features  of  the  policy  of  the  League  call  for  special 
mention  because  of  their  bearing  upon  the  future  of  the 
trade-union  movement  among  women.  First,  the  national 
character  of  the  League.  Twelve  local  branches  now  repre- 
sent the  organization — from  Boston  to  Los  Angeles.  At  the 
biennial  conventions,  delegates  from  the  leading  industrial 
states  meet  in  a  common  cause.  The  labor  problem  is  dis- 
cussed in  all  its  phases,  and  representatives  of  organized 

1  Marot,  H.,  op.  cit.,  p.  76. 


153]  TRADE-UNIONISM  AND  WAGES  !53 

women  in  many  different  trades  formulate  common  policies. 
This  means  training  in  practical  cooperation.  It  results  in 
a  widening  of  the  mental  horizon.  It  makes  for  a  solidar- 
ity of  interest.  Up  to  the  present  time,  five  biennial  con- 
ventions have  been  held,  and  each  shows  increasing  vigor 
in  debate,  greater  skill  and  adroitness  in  handling  the  issues 
involved,  and  a  strengthening  of  faith  in  the  movement  for 
which  it  stands. 

The  second  feature  of  the  League's  policy  that  deserves 
attention  is  the  emphasis  that  it  has  laid  upon  the  role  of 
leadership  by  the  members  of  the  industrial  group,  and  the 
subordination  of  the  allies,  or  the  members  without  trade 
affiliation.  The  local  branches  are  becoming  officered  almost 
exclusively  by  wage-earning  women,  and  the  direction  of 
local  affairs  rests  chiefly  in  their  hands.  The  League  has 
taken  wage-earning  women  from  the  ranks  of  workers  and 
put  them  into  the  labor  field  as  paid  organizers.  It  has  gone 
even  further  since  1913  and  has  established  formal  training 
classes  for  such  organizers.  "  Many  a  girl,"  said  Mrs.  Ray- 
mond Robins,  in  her  presidential  address  in  1913,  "many 
a  girl  capable  of  leadership  and  service  is  held  within  the 
ranks  because  neither  she  as  an  individual  nor  her  organiza- 
tion has  money  enough  to  set  her  free  for  service.  Will  it 
be  possible  for  the  National  Women's  Trade  Union  League 
to  establish  a  school  for  women  organizers  even  though  in 
the  beginning  it  may  be  only  a  training  class,  offering  every 
trade-union  girl  a  scholarship  for  a  year?  Since  then,  in 
cooperation  with  the  University  of  Chicago  and  North- 
western University,  a  few  months  of  special  training  has 
been  given  to  a  number  of  trade-union  girls  in  preparation 
for  more  effective  work  as  organizers. 

This  kind  of  support  is  full  of  promise  for  the  trade- 
union  movement  among  women.  The  affiliated  membership 
consists  now  of  125,000  workers,  most  of  them  industrial 


I54  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [154 

women.  This  number  represents  what  has  been  described 
as  the  size  of  the  group  on  a  peace  basis.  It  is  the  perma- 
nent organization  that  is  the  backbone  of  the  labor  world. 
With  this  strength  attained  and  with  the  forces  at  work  to 
conserve  it  and  increase  it,  one  may  consider  that  the 
sporadic  efforts  of  women  labor  leaders  for  at  least  seventy 
years  have  at  last  met  with  assured  success.  Will  wage 
legislation  be  a  setback  to  this  movement?  The  question 
may  be  answered  best  by  considering  it  in  relation  to  certain 
well-defined  obstacles  that  continue  to  beset  its  advance. 
These  are,  (1)  the  fact  that  women  are  largely  unskilled 
workers;  (2)  that  they  are  temporary  wage-earners;  and 
(3)  that  they  are  not  accorded  the  same  recognition  as  men 
in  the  labor  field. 

Generally  speaking,  the  chances  of  success  in  organiza- 
tion, whether  among  men  or  women,  is  in  direct  propor- 
tion to  the  skill  of  an  occupation.  Work  that  demands  labor 
of  a  high  grade,  work  that  demands  formal  training,  tech- 
nical or  practical,  and  perhaps  both,  is  a  promising  field  for 
the  trade  union.  The  effectiveness  of  the  most  important 
weapon  of  trade-unionism — the  strike  or  the  threat  of  it — 
depends  largely  upon  the  extent  to  which  the  work  is  monop- 
olized by  the  men  who  are  doing  it.  Moreover,  dues  and 
assessments  must  be  paid  from  weekly  wages.  There  must 
be  financial  support  for  the  mutual  aid  of  members,  and  all 
this  involves  a  drain  upon  the  purse  which  can  be  met  only 
by  the  better-paid  workers.  It  becomes  worth  the  while  of 
workers  with  training  and  skill  to  protect  their  special  prop- 
erty interests,  and  they  will  pay  for  the  benefits  of  perma- 
nent forms  of  labor  organization.  There  are,  to  be  sure, 
labor  unions  among  unskilled  workers,  for  example,  the 
miners,  and  the  longshoremen,  but  the  general  statement 
holds  that  the  trade-union  movement  in  the  United  States 
is  made  up  of  the  aristocracy  of  the  labor  world. 


I55]  TRADE-UNIONISM  AND  WAGES  1.55 

Judged  by  this  test,  it  is  easy  to  understand  with  what 
difficulty  women  have  made  and  are  making  progress  in 
organization.  The  great  majority,  as  we  have  seen,  are  at 
the  lowest  levels  of  the  wage  scale.  They  are  doing  the 
simplest  kinds  of  industrial  work,  work  at  which  they  may 
be  replaced  quickly  and  easily.  They  are  most  threatened 
by  changes  in  methods  of  manufacture,  by  the  introduction 
of  new  machinery,  or  by  the  recurring  tides  of  immigration 
that  bring  prospective  wage-earners  under  an  even  greater 
economic  pressure  than  their  own.  In  the  cotton  textile 
factories,  for  example,  where  women  almost  monopolized 
the  industry  a  hundred  years  ago,  they  have  been  gradually 
losing  ground,  due  somewhat  to  the  use  of  new  and  heavier 
machinery  which  required  more  rapid  work  than  they  could 
do,  but  due  also,  and  in  large  measure,  to  the  coming-in  of 
immigrant  men  who  were  willing  to  work  for  what  had 
been  considered  women's  wages  or  even  less.  The  work 
that  women  do  in  the  cotton  factories  can  be  done  in  many 
instances  by  children,  an  indication  of  the  ease  with  which 
their  places  can  be  filled.  Efforts  to  organize  unions  among 
textile  workers  in  Texas  failed  because  too  many  children 
were  employed.1 

In  this  type  of  work  the  difficulty  of  organizing  any 
effective  control  is  obviously  very  great.  Added  to  this  is 
the  difficulty  of  creating  financial  support  from  within  the 
group  itself.  Ten  to  twenty-five  cents  a  month  are  the 
common  dues.  In  the  Hat  Trimmers'  Union  of  Danbury, 
Conn.,  the  dues  are  only  five  cents  a  month.  It  goes  with- 
out saying  that  a  very  large  membership  is  necessary  to 
make  possible  dues  as  low  as  these.  "  Fifty  cents  a  month," 
says  Miss  Henry,  "  is  the  smallest  sum  upon  which  any 
organization  can  pay  its  way  to  produce  tangible  benefits 
for  its  members."  2 

1  Report  on  Condition  of  Woman  and  Child  Wage-earners,  vol.  x, 
p.  177. 

2  Henry,  A.,  op.  cit.,  p.  143. 


I56  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [156 

The  type  of  work  with  its  low  earnings  is,  then,  the  first 
great  difficulty  to  contend  with  in  women's  organization. 
In  this  situation,  with  the  increased  earnings  it  secures, 
wage  legislation  would  seem  to  be  a  direct  aid  to  organ- 
ization. We  have  seen  in  an  earlier  chapter  that  this  in  fact 
has  been  the  result  in  the  tailoring  trade  in  England,  and 
also  in  the  chain-making  industry.  Leaders  in  the  women's 
trade-union  movement  in  this  country  have  supported  wage 
laws  in  part  for  the  very  reason  that  workers  who  receive 
a  living  wage  are  a  more  easily  organized  group. 

The  second  obstacle  is  in  the  attitude  of  women  them- 
selves, due  to  their  temporary  stay  in  the  industry.  From 
five  to  seven  years  is  the  average  length  of  the  girl's  wage- 
earning  life.  Without  implying  that  her  thought  and  atten- 
tion are  exclusively  upon  marriage,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  the 
large  majority  of  girls  look  forward  to  it  in  the  more  or 
less  immediate  future,  and  work  in  the  factory  is  only  a 
necessary  occupation  in  the  interval  between  leaving  school 
and  having  a  home  of  their  own.  During  this  interval, 
moreover,  "  the  exaggerated  expectations  girls  entertain  as 
to  the  improvement  in  their  lot  which  marriage  will  bring 
them  is  one  of  the  chief  adverse  influences  that  any  organ- 
ization composed  of  women  or  containing  many  women 
members  has  to  reckon  with."  x  Truth  to  say,  many  a  girl 
remains  at  factory  work  much  longer  than  she  had  expected 
and  many  a  one  returns  to  the  wage-earning  ranks,  but  this 
is  not  the  assumption  that  the  girl  of  sixteen  or  seventeen  is 
most  likely  to  make. 

This  sort  of  wage-earning  does  not  in  itself  make  for 
interest  in  an  organization  that  demands  sacrifice  of  time 
and  money.  Its  advantages  are  remote  and  generally  highly 
problematical.  Its  drawbacks  are  immediate  and  assured. 
To  quote  Miss  Henry  again, 

1  Henry,  A.,  op.  cit.,  p.  218. 


157]  TRADE-UNIONISM  AND  WAGES  lry 

the  majority  of  the  workers  are  yet  at  the  play  age.  They  are 
still  at  the  stage  when  play  is  one  of  the  rightful  conditions 
under  which  they  carry  on  their  main  business  of  growing  up. 
Many  of  them  are  not  ready  to  be  in  the  factory  at  all.  Cer- 
tainly not  for  eight,  ten,  or  twelve  hours  a  day.  And  so  those 
young  things,  after  an  unthankful  and  exhausting  day's  toil, 
are  not  going  to  attend  meetings  unless  these  can  be  made  at- 
tractive to  them.  And  the  meetings  that  may  appear  entirely 
right  and  even  attractive  to  the  man  of  thirty  or  forty  will  be 
tiresome  and  boring  past  endurance  to  the  girl  of  sixteen  or 
eighteen.1 

One  would  hardly  attempt  to  argue  that  wage  laws  will 
have  any  appreciable  effect  upon  the  length  of  a  girl's  wage- 
earning  life  or  that  they  will  in  themselves  make  trade- 
union  business  meetings  attractive  to  young  women.  But 
it  is  reasonable  to  believe  that  they  will  change  substantially 
the  attitude  of  women  toward  their  industrial  experience, 
and  their  reaction  will  be  radically  different  from  that  at 
present.  For  one  thing,  they  will  tend  to  mitigate  the  most 
pressing  financial  difficulties  in  the  working  girl's  life.  The 
grinding  pressure  of  an  inadequate  wage  will  be  lifted. 
Work  will  offer  an  opportunity  for  living  that  is  now  wholly 
denied.  We  are  already  familiar  with  the  difference  in 
attitude  between  employees  who  work  for  a  management 
that  treats  them  "  fairly  "  —  in  a  way  above  the  common 
run  of  employers — and  those  who  do  not.  The  increased 
personal  interest  in  the  work,  the  pride  of  being  part  of 
such  a  business — these  and  other  factors  tend  to  create  a 
body  of  more  efficient  employees,  and  more  productive  eco- 
nomically. Such  employees  are  not  searching  eagerly  for 
an  escape  from  the  "  trouble  and  toil  of  wage  labor."  Al- 
though they,  too,  expect  to  remain  in  the  shop  or  factory 
only  a  short  time,  they  can  regard  their  industrial  experi- 

1  Henry,  A.,  op.  cit.,  p.  147. 


I5g  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [I58 

ence  with  pleasure  and  satisfaction,  and  not,  as  less  for- 
tunate ones,  with  aversion  and  disgust.  The  improvement 
of  the  wage-earning  status  of  working  girls  and  women 
will  have,  we  believe,  just  such  an  outcome.  To  the  extent 
that  this  is  accomplished,  will  the  way  be  prepared  for  a 
closer  identification  of  personal  interest  with  the  whole  body 
of  permanent  and  temporary  wage-earners  and  a  recognized 
individual  part  in  the  solution  of  their  problems. 

To  the  difficulties  in  organizing  women  which  arise  from 
the  nature  of  their  work  and  from  their  brief  stay  in  indus- 
try is  added  the  third  great  obstacle  of  the  attitude  of  men 
both  as  co-workers  and  as  employers.  The  change  from  the 
domestic  to  the  factory  system  of  industry  made  new  boun- 
daries of  work  for  men  and  women.  The  distinction  be- 
tween men's  and  women's  work  has  been  blurred,  wiped  out, 
and  periodically  retraced  with  the  development  of  machine 
industry.  Trades,  such  as  the  cotton  textile  and  clothing 
trade,  for  the  most  part  carried  on  by  women  under  the 
domestic  system,  have  gradually  passed  into  the  hands  of 
men.  In  the  making  of  boots  and  shoes,  women  are  doing 
today  what  was  men's  work  a  century  ago.  Active  competi- 
tion of  men  and  women  in  the  same  work  rarely  exists,  but 
a  continual  substitution  of  women  for  men  and  men  for 
women  goes  on. 

The  position  of  men  and  women  as  fellow-workers  in  in- 
dustry is  a  new  one  and  one  to  which  men  have  not  taken 
kindly.  This  is  accounted  for  chiefly  by  the  fact  that  the 
average  man  thinks  of  women  in  relation  to  the  home.  It 
may  be  a  necessity  but  it  is  also  a  misfortune  that  wives 
and  daughters  should  be  employed  at  wage  labor.  "  We 
must  strive  to  obtain  sufficient  remuneration  for  our  labor 
to  keep  the  wives  and  daughters  and  sisters  of  our  people 
at  home,"  said  the  Philadelphia  Trades  Union  in  an  open 


159]  TRADE-UNIONISM  AND  WAGES  jcg 

letter  in  1835.1  "  You  cannot  recede  from  labor  all  at 
once,"  declared  the  president  of  the  Philadelphia  Trades 
Assembly  in  a  Fourth-of-July  oration  that  same  year, 

for  then  you  would  have  no  means  of  subsistence;  but  you 
can  form  societies  of  those  who  work  at  the  same  business ;  and 
all  those  societies  can  form  a  females'  trade  union,  and  a 
formidable  one  it  would  be  too.  When  that  is  done  you  can 
raise  the  wages  of  your  several  productions,  and  thus  live 
on  less  labor;  then  raise  again,  so  that  half  the  labor  now 
performed  will  suffice  to  live  upon,  and  the  less  you  do  the 
more  there  will  be  for  the  men  to  do  and  the  better  they  will 
be  paid  for  doing  it,  and  ultimately  you  will  be  what  you  ought 
to  be,  free  from  the  performance  of  that  kind  of  labor  which 
was  designed  for  man  alone  to  perform.  Then  will  you  who 
are  wives  be  able  to  devote  your  time  to  your  families  and  your 
homes ;  then  will  you  be  able  to  attend  to  the  cultivation  of  your 
mind,  and  impart  virtuous  instruction  to  your  children;  then 
will  you  be  able  to  appreciate  the  value  and  realize  the  bless- 
ings of  the  connubial  state.  And  you  who  are  unmarried  can 
then  enjoy  those  innocent  amusements  and  recreations  so  essen- 
tial to  health  and  qualify  yourself  for  the  more  sober  duties 
of  wives,  mothers,  and  matrons.2 

The  same  feeling  persists  to  some  extent  today,  as  was 
shown,  for  example,  just  after  the  signing  of  the  armistice 
when  certain  labor  men  appealed  to  women  to  return  to  the 
domestic  pursuits  which  they  were  pictured  to  have  left  to 
engage  in  industry  for  patriotic  reasons.  But  there  are  signs 
which  point  to  a  changed  attitude.  Labor  leaders  among 
men  feel  the  necessity  of  accepting  women  as  a  permanent 
factor  in  industrial  work.  They  certainly  have  given  up 
hope  of  keeping  them  out  of  factory  and  shop,  and  one  hears 

1  Report  on  Condition  of  Woman  and  Child  Wage  Earners,  vol.  x, 
P-  47- 
*  Ibid.,  p.  48. 


j5q  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [160 

less,  though  still  more  than  enough,  of  the  natural  division 
of  labor  between  men  and  women  based  on  their  respective 
places  in  and  out  of  the  home. 

Another  potent  reason  for  opposition  to  women  as  fellow- 
workers  has  been  their  willingness  to  work  for  low  wages. 
In  this  respect  the  attitude  of  trade-union  men  has  been 
similar  to  their  attitude  towards  the  immigrant  male  laborer 
— another  group  that  has  threatened  wages  by  their  will- 
ingness to  work  for  low  pay,  and  one  that  has  likewise  re- 
ceived little  consideration  because  of  special  difficulties  in 
the  way  of  organization.  Ihis  opposition  obviously  should 
be  moderated  by  minimum-wage  laws,  and  there  should  be 
a  revised  appraisal  of  women  as  wage-earners,  and  a  more 
extended  and  hearty  recognition  of  their  part  in  the  labor 
movement. 

The  cheapness  of  women's  labor,  which  has  made  them 
a  menace  to  the  interests  of  the  whole  labor  group,  has  en- 
hanced their  desirability  in  the  eyes  of  the  employer.  The 
presence  of  a  supply  of  cheap  labor  has  made  it  profitable 
to  divide  and  subdivide  industrial  processes,  to  introduce 
machinery  and  to  accomplish  a  reduction  in  the  wage  scale. 
The  possible  influence  of  trade  unions  in  destroying  this 
advantage  has  been  one  of  the  reasons  for  the  determined 
opposition  of  employers  toward  women's  organizations, 
especially  when  they  have  begun  to  show  perceptible  signs 
of  strength.  "  Before  organization,  or  while  a  union  is 
still  small,  employers  rarely  concern  themselves  with  the 
matter,  as  the  chances  of  an  effective  women's  union  appear 
too  slight  to  concern  them.  But  when  once  an  organiza- 
tion has  attained  size  and  strength,  employers  have  almost 
always  set  themselves  to  break  it  up,  and  have  usually  suc- 
ceeded." 1    This  has  been  the  situation  in  the  tobacco  trade 

1  Report  on  Condition  of  Woman  and  Child  Wage-earners,  vol.  x, 
P-  145- 


161]  TRADE-UNIONISM  AND  WAGES  !6i 

and  to  some  extent  among  cigar  makers,  in  the  boot  and 
shoe  trade  and  also  among  the  garment  workers.  The  atti- 
tude of  the  telegraph  companies  and  that  of  department 
store  heads  has  even  to  the  present  time  effectually  prevented 
organization.  The  attitude  of  employers  toward  women's 
organization,  however,  is  in  large  part  due  to  their  general 
opposition  "  on  principle  "  to  trade-unionism.  In  the  rec- 
ognition they  must  eventually  give  to  labor's  voice  in  in- 
dustry women  doubtless  will  share  equally  with  men.  The 
enforcing  of  minimum  rates  of  pay  will  eliminate  the  exces- 
sive cheapness  of  women's  labor  and  give  employers  a  dif- 
ferent idea  of  the  worth  of  women  as  wage-earners.  To 
that  extent  it  should  modify  the  hostility  that  the  men  have 
towards  them  as  a  class  of  cheap  labor. 

We  have  still  to  reckon  with  the  opposition  of  men  to 
the  admission  of  women  to  their  labor  unions  even  when 
they  fully  meet  the  requirements  of  membership.  This  has 
been  shown  recently  in  the  case  of  the  women  street-car 
conductors  in  Cleveland,  where  the  men  of  the  Amalgamated 
Association  of  Street  and  Electric  Railway  Employees  went 
out  on  strike  to  enforce  their  demand  for  the  dismissal  of 
the  150  women  conductors.  The  women  were  all  self- 
supporting,  two-thirds  of  them  supporting  also  children 
and  parents.  Twenty-six  had  husbands  or  sons  in  the 
army.  They  were  employed  at  the  same  wages  as  men  and 
subject  to  all  other  conditions  applicable  to  men.  There 
was  no  evidence  that  the  work  was  beyond  their  physical 
powers  nor  that  the  surroundings  were  disagreeable  or  un- 
desirable. The  women  had  applied  for  admittance  to  the 
union,  which  has  a  closed-shop  agreement  with  the  Cleve- 
land Company,  but  both  the  local  and  national  officers  had 
refused  them  on  the  ground  that  it  would  thereby  extend 
to  the  women  protection  against  dismissal.  This  dismissal 
they  had  evidently  determined  to  bring  about  as  soon  as 


j62  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [162 

conditions  were  favorable.  Accordingly,  after  the  signing 
of  the  armistice  they  struck  for  this  sole  object.  The  Na- 
tional War  Labor  Board  supported  them  on  the  ground 
that  women  had  been  employed  because  of  the  shortage  of 
men  withdrawn  for  military  service,  but  with  the  signing 
of  the  armistice  and  the  return  of  men  from  war  industries 
and  from  the  camps  they  no  longer  were  needed.  Hence 
they  recommended  that  the  Street  Railway  Company  comply 
with  the  demands  of  the  Amalgamated  Association  and 
dismiss  the  women  conductors.  This  case  raises  the  issue 
of  the  unions'  attitude  towards  women's  right  to  equal  in- 
dustrial opportunity  with  men.  In  so  far  as  men  demand  a 
monopoly  of  an  occupation  which  can  be  equally  well  car- 
ried on  by  women,  they  are  setting  a  precedent  for  antag- 
onism where  there  should  be  cooperation.  They  are  sub- 
stantially holding  to  a  narrow  policy  of  exclusion  that  might 
be  effective  perhaps  in  highly  skilled  trades,  but  such  a 
policy  is  self-defeating  in  unskilled  or  semi-skilled  work. 
For,  as  one  writer  has  put  it,  "  even  though  employers  may 
be  forced  to  turn  off  the  women  for  a  while,  they  will  not 
fail  sooner  or  later  to  turn  to  such  a  force  of  experienced 
female  labor.  And  the  women,  many  of  whom  will  prob- 
ably have  been  suffering  from  unemployment,  unorganized 
and  without  machinery  for  holding  up  the  wage  scale,  are 
not  likely  to  resist  successfully  the  undercutting  of  the 
men's  rates."  From  this  point  of  view  it  is  surely  wiser 
for  the  men  to  admit  women  to  their  unions  and  to  require 
them  to  be  paid  according  to  the  men's  wage  scale. 

Women  already  have  reached  a  stage  of  class  conscious- 
ness as  workers  that  is  bound  to  result  in  a  much  greater 
extension  of  voluntary  organized  effort,  both  to  get  the 
benefit  of  laws  passed  in  their  interest  and  to  secure  for 
themselves  gains  outside  the  scope  of  legal  regulation.  As 
for  minimum-wage  rates,  they  simply  provide  a  basic  wage. 


163]  TRADE-UNIONISM  AND  WAGES  ^3 

They  do  not  thereby  determine,  necessarily,  labor's  share  of 
the  common  product  of  labor  and  capital.  It  must  be  at 
least  sufficient  to  support  a  normal  standard  of  living,  but  it 
may  very  well  be  more  than  that.  Anything  obtained  above 
the  basic  wage  will  depend  largely  upon  the  degree  of  effec- 
tiveness of  collective  bargaining. 

We  have  tried  to  make  it  clear  that  the  trade-union  move- 
ment had  already  established  itself  on  a  sure  and  permanent 
basis  before  the  advent  of  minimum-wage  laws,  and  that  in 
so  far  as  this  legislation  has  any  effect  at  all,  it  will  prob- 
ably tend  to  advance  rather  than  to  retard  its  development. 
Other  forces  are  at  work  to  strengthen  it.  The  protection 
of  the  interests  of  women  workers  in  the  difficult  period  of 
adjustment  that  follows  the  war,  and  the  participation  of 
women  in  the  claims  and  gains  of  the  general  labor  world, 
can  be  effected  only  through  combined  action.  To  this  fact 
women  themselves  are  keenly  alive. 

The  war  has  proved  that  the  range  of  possibilities  for  wo- 
men in  industry  is  much  wider  than  it  has  been  assumed  to 
be  in  the  past.  It  has  given  a  new  impetus  to  the  trade-union 
movement,  and  this  is  evident  in  the  effort  that  the  Women's 
Trade  Union  League  is  putting  forth  for  equality  of  indus- 
trial opportunity  for  women  with  men;  for  equal  pay  for 
equal  work;  and  for  the  same  opportunity  with  men  for 
vocational  training. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

Vocational  Education  and  Women's  Wages 

Five  years  ago  a  national  commission  made  a  vigorous 
report  on  the  need  of  vocational  education  in  the  United 
States.  Recognizing  that  "  many  and  different  kinds  and 
grades  of  vocational  education  will  always  be  required," 
the  Commission  maintained  that  "  the  kind  most  urgently 
demanded  at  the  present  time  is  that  which  will  prepare 
workers  for  the  more  common  occupations  in  which  the 
great  mass  of  our  people  find  useful  employment."  "There 
is  a  great  need,"  the  Commission  said, 

of  providing  vocational  education  of  this  character  for  every 
part  of  the  United  States — to  conserve  and  develop  our  re- 
sources; to  promote  a  more  productive  and  prosperous  agri- 
culture; to  prevent  the  waste  of  human  labor;  to  supplement 
apprenticeship;  to  increase  the  wage-earning  power  of  our 
productive  workers ;  to  meet  the  increasing  demand  for  trained 
workmen ;  to  offset  the  increased  cost  of  living. 

No  less  urgent  than  the  economic  need,  they  asserted,  was 
the  social  and  educational  need.  "  Widespread  vocational 
training,"  they  stated, 

will  democratize  the  education  of  the  country:  (i)  By  recog- 
nizing different  tastes  and  abilities  and  by  giving  an  equal 
opportunity  to  all  to  prepare  for  their  life  work;  (2)  by  ex- 
tending education  through  part-time  and  evening  instruction 
to  those  who  are  at  work  in  the  shop  or  on  the  farm.  Voca- 
tional training  will  indirectly  but  positively  affect  the  aims 
164  [164 


165]  VOCATIONAL  EDUCATION  AND  WAGES  ifr- 

and  methods  of  general  education :  ( 1 )  By  developing  a  better 
teaching  process  through  which  the  children  who  do  not  re- 
spond to  book  instruction  alone  may  be  reached  and  educated 
through  learning  by  doing;  (2)  by  introducing  into  our  edu- 
cational system  the  aim  of  utility,  to  take  its  place  in  dignity 
by  the  side  of  culture  and  to  connect  education  with  life  by 
making  it  purposeful  and  useful.  Industrial  and  social  unrest 
is  due  in  large  measure  to  a  lack  of  a  system  of  practical  edu- 
cation fitting  workers  for  their  callings.  Higher  standards  of 
living  are  a  direct  result  of  the  better  education  which  makes 
workers  more  efficient  thus  increasing  their  wage  earning 
capacity.1 

Overwhelming  testimony  in  behalf  of  vocational  training 
came  to  the  commission  from  "  every  class  of  citizenship — 
from  the  educator,  the  manufacturer,  the  trades-unionist, 
the  business  man,  the  social  worker  and  the  philanthropist." 
The  findings  of  the  Commission  were  sufficiently  con- 
vincing to  secure  the  passage  of  a  bill  providing  millions  of 
dollars  for  the  promotion  of  vocational  training  on  a  nation- 
wide scale.  According  to  the  bill,  this  much-needed  train- 
ing is  extended  to  girls  as  well  as  to  boys.  Section  eleven 
provides  that  the  controlling  purpose  of  the  education  aided 
by  national  grants  shall  be  "  to  fit  for  useful  employment," 
and  that  "  it  shall  be  designed  to  meet  the  needs  of  persons 
over  fourteen  years  of  age  who  are  preparing  for  a  trade 
or  industrial  pursuit."  This  provision  is  notable  in  that  it 
makes  no  sex  distinction  in  vocational  training.  It  does 
not  support  the  stand  so  frequently  taken  that  the  most  im- 
portant training  a  girl  can  have  is  for  the  career  as  wife, 
mother  and  homemaker;  that  the  subjects  to  emphasize  in 
her  vocational  education  are  cooking,  sewing,  home  sanita- 
I  tion  and  decoration,  motherhood  and  the  care  of  children. 

1  Report  of  the  Commission  on  National  Aid  to  Vocational  Education, 
vol.  i,  p.  12. 


!56  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [166 

When  this  point  was  raised  in  the  hearings  held  by  the 
Commission,  those  who  testified  made  it  clear  that  in  their 
opinion  vocational  education  for  girls  must  mean  training 
for  wage-earning  and  not  for  home-making.  When  asked 
specifically  whether  vocational  training  should  be  directed 
to  a  girl's  preparation  for  her  own  home,  one  witness  replied, 

Home  making — I  think  homes  are  made  by  men  and  women, 
not  by  women,  and  if  that  is  a  preparation,  then  the  training  of 
boys  and  girls  should  be  the  same.  That  is,  do  not  let  us  ever- 
lastingly put  the  girl  off  in  a  corner  making  bows  when  she 
might  make  a  much  better  carpenter  than  the  boy.  Forget, 
if  you  can,  in  education  for  a  while  that  this  is  a  female  and 
that  is  a  male.  Here  are  people  with  hands  to  be  made  useful 
in  order  that  they  may  do  things.  If  a  girl  can  drive  a  nail 
better  than  a  boy,  don't  call  her  a  tomboy  for  doing  it.  That 
is  the  way  we  twist  these  things.  And  if  a  boy  can  sew  on  a 
button  better  than  a  girl,  why,  let  him  sew  on  his  buttons.1 

Another  witness  when  asked  whether  girls  should  have 
an  equal  chance  with  boys  for  training  in  the  skilled 
trades,  replied,  "  I  think  so  ...  .  and  I  think,  perhaps,  if 
they  are  looking  forward  to  marriage  and  the  home,  it  is 
more  beneficial  that  they  do  this."  The  defense  of  this 
opinion  will  bear  quoting.  "  I  believe,"  the  witness  con- 
tinued, 

"  there  is  nothing  so  fatal  to  a  right  attitude  toward  family 
service  than  [sic]  the  waste  of  the  time  from  the  school  to  mar- 
riage in  looking  for  a  husband  and  having  a  good  time  in  the 
form  of  self-indulgence  and  of  idleness.  Therefore,  I  believe 
that  to  be  busy  at  a  worthy  occupation  during  that  time  is  most 
necessary  to  keep  a  woman  in  the  right  attitude  of  responsibil- 
ity and  of  devotion  that  will  make  her  a  good  wife  and  mother. 

1  Report  of  the  Commission  on  National  Aid  to  Vocational  Education, 
vol.  ii,  p.  195. 


!6?]  VOCATIONAL  EDUCATION  AND  WAGES  jfy 

.  .  .  The  large  number  of  widows  or  of  married  women 
forced  to  support  their  children  or  to  contribute  toward  the 
support  of  a  family,  who  are  in  almost  every  industry  open 
to  women  [shows]  that  a  woman  never  knows  what  moment 
she  may  have  to  go  back  to  some  form  of  wage  earning,  and 
not  only  for  self,  as  the  unmarried  woman  does,  but  for 
others  dependent  upon  her.  I  believe  that  the  courage  that 
she  has  in  meeting  her  family  responsibilities  is  tremendously 
increased  by  the  consciousness  that  if  she  need  ever  do  it  she 
may.  ...  I  believe  that  every  argument  of  self-respect,  of 
unselfish  devotion,  and  courageous  facing  of  life  demands  that 
a  woman  have  a  skill  developed  to  the  degree  of  worthy  self- 
support.1 

Not  only  witnesses  before  the  Commission,  but  members  of 
the  Commission  themselves  expressed  the  opinion  that  the 
proposed  bill  should  develop  women's  wage-earning  power 
and  provide  equal  opportunities  with  men  for  vocational 
training. 

From  this  standpoint,  instruction  in  home  economics 
should  be  given,  as  one  authority  holds,  "  in  specialized 
courses  planned  and  followed  for  the  purpose  of  earning  a 
livelihood."  2     The  same  writer  goes  on  to  say, 

opportunities  are  coming  up  .  .  .  for  numerous  wage-earning 
and  salaried  callings,  which  are  based  upon  a  very  practical 
as  well  as  a  scientific  knowledge  of  home  economics,  such  as 
invalid  cookery,  special  cookery,  catering  to  a  special  demand 
for  such  things  as  cakes,  candy,  pickles,  preserves,  etc. — 
caterers,  heads  of  tea  rooms,  lunch  rooms,  and  gift  shops, 
dieticians  and  boarding-house  and  institutional  managers.8 

There  is  suggested  here  a  wide  and  promising  field  where 

1  Report  of  the  Commission  on  National  Aid  to  Vocational  Education, 
vol.  ii,  p.  243. 
1  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics.    Bulletin  162,  p.  62. 
*  Ibid.,  p.  62. 


!68  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [168 

perhaps  the  most  capable  girls  could  put  to  commercial  use 
the  kind  of  training  that  might  be  given  in  a  good  practical 
arts  department.  There  is  an  even  wider  vocational  oppor- 
tunity in  the  field  of  domestic  service — practically  the  only 
other  field  into  which  the  girls  who  go  into  industry  might 
go  in  any  number.  Here,  I  am  aware,  one  touches  on  a 
perplexing  and  many-sided  problem.  There  is  more  than 
the  question  of  training  involved — there  is  the  greatest  ob- 
stacle in  the  conditions  under  which  the  work  is  done.  The 
attitude  of  working  girls  themselves  towards  domestic  ser- 
vice has  been  strikingly  set  forth  in  the  reports  of  the  Com- 
mission on  Household  Employment  of  the  Y.  W.  C.  A. 
Through  the  cooperation  of  the  Y.  W.  C.  A.  clubs,  the 
opinions  were  obtained  of  112  young  women  engaged  in 
domestic  service,  and  of  137  in  factories  on  the  question  of 
the  respective  advantages  of  household  employment  and 
factory  work.  A  summary  of  their  replies  shows  a  striking 
unanimity  of  opinion.  All  agreed  that  domestic  service  as  an 
occupation  had  the  advantages  of  good  wages,  health,  and 
preparation  for  a  girl's  own  home  after  marriage.  All  were 
equally  agreed  that  the  advantages  of  factory  work  lay  in 
the  shorter,  fixed,  and  regular  hours;  the  greater  oppor- 
tunity for  social  life  and  recreation  and  self -development; 
greater  opportunity  for  marriage,  and  higher  social  stand- 
ing. "  Putting  the  issue  squarely  before  young  women  who 
have  to  earn  their  own  living,"  says  the  writer  of  the  re- 
port, "  which  set  of  advantages  are  they  likely  to  choose  ?" 
"  We  have  seen,"  she  continues, 

from  the  discussion  on  the  reports  from  domestic  workers 
themselves  that  they  are  not  enthusiastic  about  advising  other 
young  women  to  enter  their  occupation,  the  advantages  of 
health,  wages,  preparation  for  the  future  not  counterbalancing 
the  present  disantadvantages  of  long  hours,  lack  of  place  to 
entertain,  dearth  of  social  life  and  recreation,  no  opportunity 
for  self-direction  and  self-development. 


169]  VOCATIONAL  EDUCATION  AND  WAGES  j6g 

To  secure  the  impartial  judgment  of  young  women  in 
store,  office,  and  factory  work,  the  following  question  was 
asked :  "  Suppose  a  friend  or  your  younger  sister  should 
come  to  you  and  say :  '  I  have  to  begin  to  work ;  do  you 
think  it  would  be  better  for  me  to  go  into  a  factory  or 
domestic  service  ?'    The  point  of  interest,"  says  the  report, 

in  analyzing  the  answers  to  this  question  was  to  discover  by 
what  criterion  these  young  women  judged  an  occupation.  Ad- 
mitting there  are  advantages  on  both  sides,  which  advant- 
ages really  count?  The  result  showed  an  overwhelming  ma- 
jority for  the  advantages  on  the  side  of  factory,  store,  or  office 
work.  A  curious  thing  is  noticeable  in  the  reasoning  which 
the  girls  use  in  recommending  household  employment.  They 
seem  to  choose  an  altogether  new  basis  for  their  advise.  Al- 
most no  mention  is  made  of  the  advantages  which  they  ad- 
mitted belonged  to  household  employment,  namely,  health, 
wages,  preparation  for  the  duties  of  a  wife.  Their  basis  for 
advising  household  employment  is,  "  If  she  has  no  home  or 
parents  to  look  after  her."  The  possibility  that  the  financial 
situation  must  have  had  at  least  an  unconscious  influence  on 
this  answer  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  these  girls  who  speak 
of  the  need  of  getting  a  substitute  home  are  the  poorly  paid 
factory  girls  who  probably  could  not  be  comfortable  on  their 
salaries  unless  they  were  subsidized  by  their  homes.  The 
fact  that  domestic  service  pays  well — at  least  gives  shelter — 
would  make  it  a  refuge  for  the  young  unskilled  orphan.  .  .  . 
The  admitted  advantages  of  household  work  had  little  bearing 
on  the  answers.  They  were  practically  discounted  in  the  ad- 
vice given  to  sisters  or  friends.  Health,  upon  which  such 
stress  was  laid  is  scarcely  mentioned.  No  thought  seems  to  be 
given  to  the  fact  that  more  money  can  be  saved  by  the  house- 
hold worker.  The  advantages  which  count  are  time,  recre- 
ation, and  social  life,  living  at  home,  freedom  of  action,  op- 
portunity for  self-improvement  and  advancement. 

No  better  guide  could  be  furnished  than  is  offered  by  this 


I70  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [170 

report  to  a  solution  of  the  problem  of  domestic  service.  It 
is  a  complete  explanation  of  why  girls  may  be  searching  for 
employment  in  factories  while  hundreds  of  calls  for  do- 
mestic servants  go  unheeded.  The  lack  of  domestic  help 
has  become  so  great  that  housekeepers,  realizing  that  some 
concession  must  be  made  to  the  working  girl's  point  of  view, 
are  planning  their  work  accordingly.  They  are  willing  to 
help  in  the  experiments  that  are  being  made  to  change  the 
status  of  the  household  worker,  and  to  make  domestic  ser- 
vice an  actual  alternative  to  factory  work.  These  experi- 
ments are  being  made  through  classes  that  train  girls  and 
women  specifically  for  wage-earning  domestic  service. 
From  these  classes  a  girl  may  be  obtained  for  either  general 
or  specialized  work.  Their  hours  are  determinate.  They 
do  not  live  in  the  homes  of  their  employers.  They  have,  in 
short,  a  status  similar  to  that  of  the  factory  girl  as  far  as 
their  working  conditions  are  concerned.  It  is  too  soon  to 
venture  an  opinion  as  to  the  success  of  these  experiments  in 
making  domestic  service  an  actual  competitor  of  factory 
work.  It  is,  to  say  the  least,  a  suggestive  start  in  discover- 
ing the  economic  resources  that  are  as  yet  practically  un- 
known in  the  field  of  women's  traditional  work.  Should 
this  field  develop  as  an  effective  rival  of  industrial  work,  the 
unfavorable  concentration  of  women  in  factory  occupations 
would  be  decreased,  bringing  some  measure  of  release  from 
the  pressure  of  numbers  that  keeps  wages  down  to  their 
present  level. 

Within  the  field  of  industry,  that  is,  of  manufacturing,  the 
question  of  formal  training  must  start  with  an  analysis  of 
what  occupations  there  are  for  which  to  train.  At  present 
such  skilled  work  as  there  is  for  women  centers  in  the  use  of 
a  few  tools.  It  requires  the  use  of  the  sewing  machine,  run 
by  foot  or  electric  power,  the  paste  or  paint  brush,  and  the 
needle.     Training  for  the  sewing  trades  is  especially  im- 


1 7i ]  VOCATIONAL  EDUCATION  AND  WAGES  I7I 

portant,  since  it  opens  such  a  large  field  for  skilled  work. 
In  some  cities  it  is  women's  sole  opportunity.  In  Cleveland, 
for  example,  Mr.  Lutz  says  in  his  report  on  Wage  Earning 
and  Education,  "  practically  no  other  industrial  occupations 
in  which  large  numbers  of  women  are  employed  possess 
sufficient  technical  content  to  warrant  the  establishment  of 
training  courses  in  the  schools,"  x  and  that,  therefore,  "  the 
industrial  training  for  girls  will  consist  in  the  main  of  prep- 
aration for  the  sewing  trades."  The  present  facilities  for 
the  training  of  girls  in  these  types  of  work  are  by  no  means 
adequate,  as  witness,  for  example,  the  long  waiting  list  at 
the  Manhattan  Trade  School.  They  should  be  greatly  in- 
creased. 

The  effect  of  such  training  upon  wages  is  shown  clearly 
in  a  recent  study  of  the  industrial  experience  of  trade-school 
girls  in  Massachusetts.  Comparing  the  wages  of  girls  for 
dressmaking  in  the  trade  school  with  those  of  girls  trained 
in  the  trade  itself,  the  report  states  "  the  greatest  difference 
is  found  in  the  initial  stage."  Trade-school  girls  received 
$1.20  more  to  start  with  than  trade-trained  girls.  This  dif- 
ference, as  the  writer  of  the  report  observes,  is  "  easily  ac- 
counted for,  as  the  trade-school  girl  is  usually  a  little  older 
at  beginning  work,  and  her  years  in  the  trade  school  have 
given  her  some  of  the  fundamental  preparation,  so  that  she 
generally  commences  as  a  worker  instead  of  as  an  errand 
girl,  stock  girl,  examiner,  or  cleaner."  This  difference  in 
initial  wage  in  favor  of  the  school-trained  girl  lends  support 
to  the  argument  for  raising  the  present  age  limit  for  begin- 
ning work,  and  suggests  the  effect  that  trade  training  might 
have  in  decreasing  the  present  concentration  at  the  lowest 
points  in  the  wage  scale.  The  report  goes  on  to  show  that 
the  trade-school  girls  maintain  the  advantage  up  to  the  tenth 

1  Cleveland  Education  Survey,  Wage  Earning  and  Education,  pp.  09, 
100. 


172  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [iyo 

year,  "  after  which  the  difference  in  the  number  of  the  two 
groups  makes  the  figures  of  little  significance."  In  general, 
the  records  of  trade  schools  show  a  higher  initial  wage  for 
girls  who  have  taken  the  training,  an  advantage  which  is 
maintained  with  varying  degrees  throughout  their  industrial 
career. 

It  is  apparent,  however,  that  if  vocational  education  is 
merely  imposed  upon  the  present  distribution  of  industry 
between  men  and  women  it  will  fall  far  short  in  extending 
the  range  of  women's  industrial  opportunity,  and  hence  her 
earnings.  If  it  is  to  be  of  substantial  value  in  this  respect, 
vocational  education  must  remove  the  barriers  to  women's 
employment  set  by  custom  and  tradition,  and  not  by  lack  of 
capacity.  It  should  build,  for  example,  upon  such  facts  as 
the  fitness  of  women  for  work  in  the  metal  trades  shown  by 
their  recent  employment  in  that  branch  of  industry.  In  this 
field  a  whole  new  group  of  training  courses  for  women 
might  easily  be  developed.  In  short,  if  vocational  educa- 
tion attains  to  the  measure  of  its  possibilities  for  women  it 
must  be  based  on  a  sound  analysis  of  the  positions  for  which 
training  is  needed  and  a  generous  extension  of  this  training 
to  girls  and  women  on  equal  terms  with  boys  and  men. 

Yet,  after  all,  is  not  the  demand  for  formal  technical 
training  steadily  on  the  decrease?  The  simple  operations 
into  which  industry  is  now  divided  do  not  require  it.  They 
can  be  learned  in  the  factory  itself  within  a  very  short  time. 
A  girl  (a  boy,  too)  can  slip  from  one  industry  to  another 
and  find  the  same  situation  wherever  she  goes — the  unend- 
ing round  of  unskilled  occupations  with  which  she  is  readily 
made  acquainted  by  the  forewoman  or  a  fellow  worker. 
This  is  a  question  that  cannot  be  answered  by  reference  to 
our  present  trade  schools.  There  are  those  who  recommend 
for  this  type  of  worker  physical  training  and  recreation 
properly  organized  and  adapted  to  her  need  of  relief  from 


173]  VOCATIONAL  EDUCATION  AND  WAGES  ^ 

the  monotony  of  repetitive  operations.  This,  they  main- 
tain, will  make  her  a  more  efficient  worker.  It  is  quite  pos- 
sible they  are  right.  The  lack  of  interest  in  work  which 
employers  sometime  advance  as  a  reason  for  low  wages  may 
in  all  probability  be  traced  to  the  very  conditions  of  work 
that  industry  offers.  In  other  words,  we  may  question 
whether  industry  as  at  present  organized  provides  the  op- 
portunity for  maximum  productive  effort.  The  customary 
attitude  of  indifference  on  the  part  of  the  worker,  the  shift- 
ing about  from  place  to  place — these  have  reached  propor- 
tions that  make  them  a  matter  of  widespread  concern.  Ex- 
perts in  scientific  management  are  turning  their  attention  to 
the  problem  to  test  ways  of  improving  production  through 
associated  effort.  It  is  by  no  means  unlikely  that  within  the 
factory  itself  will  be  worked  out  the  most  significant  and 
far-reaching  scheme  of  vocational  education.  But,  as  Miss 
Marot  has  recently  pointed  out,  "  if  educators  regard  op- 
portunities for  growth  with  sufficient  jealousy  they  will  not 
wait  for  industry  to  emerge  with  a  new  program  or  system 
of  production ;  they  will  initiate  productive  enterprises  where 
young  people  will  be  free  to  gain  first-hand  experience  in 
the  problems  of  industry."  *  As  a  matter  of  fact,  educators 
are  already  conducting  experiments  along  these  lines.  In 
this  field  there  is  no  reason  to  anticipate  discrimination 
against  girls  and  women,  and  in  such  beneit  as  it  may  confer 
they  will  have  an  equal  opportunity  to  share. 

The  province  of  vocational  education  does  not  stop  at 
this  point.  There  are  certain  phases  of  what  we  may  call 
general  education  which  are  typically  vocational.  Such  a 
phase  is  indicated  by  Mr.  Dewey  in  Schools  of  To-morrow, 
when  he  says  that  one  of  the  primary  and  fundamental 
problems  of  education  is  to  prepare  individuals   "  to  be 

1  The  Creative  Impulse  in  Industry,  p.  108. 


I74  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [174 

vitally  and  sincerely  interested  in  the  calling  upon  which 
they  must  enter  if  they  are  not  to  be  social  parasites  and  to 
be  informed  as  to  the  social  and  scientific  trainings  of  that 
calling."  This  can  probably  be  done  best  through  the  voca- 
tional counsellor  whose  offices  are  already  part  of  our  public 
school  system.  The  vocational  counsellor  has  a  unique  op- 
portunity to  instil  into  the  young  girl  a  sense  of  worth  and 
dignity  for  her  wage-earning  years.  She  can  emphasize  the 
importance  of  the  choice  of  occupation.  She  can  direct  her 
towards  a  wide  range  of  pursuits  and  guard  her  against  that 
restricted  opportunity  which  undermines  effort  and  thwarts 
initiative. 

Vocational  education,  then,  in  its  broadest  sense  promises 
a  substantially  increased  earning  power.  It  offers  the 
chance  to  develop  new  occupations  for  girls  both  within  and 
without  the  industrial  field ;  it  tends  to  reduce  the  unfavor- 
able concentration  in  the  factory  by  broadening  the  field  of 
economic  opportunity  in  domestic  service,  and  by  extending 
the  application  of  household  arts  to  specifically  wage-earning 
ends.  In  so  far  as  it  opens  new  industrial  opportunities  to 
women  in  the  higher  types  of  work  it  may  relieve  the  exist- 
ing pressure  of  numbers  in  unskilled  occupations.  To  those 
who  continue  to  be  unskilled  workers  it  may  unfold  a  mean- 
ing to  their  task  that  will  be  translated  into  productive 
capacity.  It  should  be,  in  short,  the  foundation  of  the  effort 
which  we  evaluate  and  call  wages. 


CHAPTER  IX 
Conclusion 

As  suggested  in  the  preceding  chapters,  the  matter  of 
raising  the  level  of  women's  wages  is  one  that  cannot  be 
effected  with  any  single  measure.  Minimum-wage  legisla- 
tion, to  which  many  are  looking  with  hope  and  confidence, 
promises  the  most  immediate  and  far-reaching  changes  in 
the  wage  scale.  If  enforced,  it  would  raise  appreciably  the 
lower  limits  of  the  wage  scale  and  thereby  benefit  thousands 
of  workers.  It  would  obviously  eliminate  excessively  cheap 
women's  labor  from  competing  with  either  that  of  other 
women  or  of  men.  It  would  make  it  impossible  for  an  em- 
ployer to  exploit  the  most  necessitous  worker,  or  to  rely 
upon  economizing  on  his  wage  bill  to  keep  down  expense  of 
production.  Wage  legislation,  in  short,  would  set  that  civi- 
lization standard  for  wage  payment  that  its  proponents  claim 
for  it,  and  would  limit  industrial  practice  in  the  interests  of 
community  welfare  as  it  has  been  limited  by  all  other  social 
or  labor  legislation. 

But  wage  legislation  by  itself  falls  far  short  of  a  com- 
plete solution  of  low  wages.  At  most  it  provides  that  a  girl 
or  woman  shall  receive  a  living  wage  during  the  specific  days 
or  hours  that  she  is  at  work.  But  what  of  the  irregularity 
of  industry  and  its  consequent  unemployment  or  under- 
employment? This  difficulty  has  not  been  dealt  with  in  this 
country.  It  was  no  more  than  recognized  by  the  Massachu- 
setts Brush  Workers'  Wage  Board.  "Any  minimum-wage 
finding,"  it  stated,  "  which  stops  with  merely  naming  a 
175]  i75 


I76  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [176 

minimum  hourly  rate  looks  well  on  paper,  but  accomplishes 
no  actual  result  beyond  a  somewhat  pale  moral  effect.  No 
person  can  live  wisely  who  tries  to  plan  out  his  life  on  any- 
thing less  than  a  weekly  basis.  The  goal  to  aim  at  is  a 
yearly  basis."  They  added,  however,  that  at  present  "An 
attempt  to  compel  even  a  minimum  weekly  wage  payable 
each  week  without  regard  to  the  average  earning  over  a 
larger  period  would  be  an  undue  burden  on  many  manufac- 
turers." *  A  few  English  writers  also  have  pointed  this  out. 
"  Rates,"  said  Mrs.  Hubback  in  The  New  Statesman,  Feb- 
ruary 21,  1 914,"  rates,  whether  time  or  piece,  mean  nothing 
till  we  know  the  average  received  during  the  year."  Another 
writer  in  the  same  paper,  June  6,  1914,  maintained  that 
unless  employers  reform  their  system  of  employment  they 
"  must  be  compelled,  by  the  extension  of  the  Trade  Boards 
Act  or  by  some  other  administrative  machinery  to  pay  a  rate 
of  wages  which  will  assure  to  all  .  .  .  whose  services  are 
required  at  one  time  or  another  a  rate  of  wages  indubitably 
sufficient  to  provide  a  tolerable  living  wage." 

Mr.  Justice  Higgins  in  the  Australian  Commonwealth 
Arbitration  Court  has  set  a  precedent  for  that  country  at 
least  in  taking  annual  earnings  as  the  basis  for  discussing 
minimum  wages.2  In  the  case  of  dock  and  wharf  laborers 
the  Justice  found  that  the  men  were  employed  through  the 
year  an  average  of  thirty  hours  a  week.  The  hourly  rate  of 
pay  was  then  fixed  so  that  it  would  provide  a  living  wage 
on  a  basis  of  thirty  hours  of  work.  The  decision  appears 
to  have  been  made  partly  with  the  intention  of  forcing  em- 
ployers to  regularize  the  work,  for  the  award  was  provis- 
ional and  applied  only  to  the  then  existing  status  of  em- 
ployment. 

1  Massachusetts  Minimum  Wage  Commission,  Bulletin  no.  3,  p.  28. 

2  State  Factory  Investigating  Commission,  New  York,  Fourth  Report, 
vol.  ii,  pp.  305,  306. 


I77]  CONCLUSION  I77 

It  is  a  familiar  fact  that  irregular  employment  is  char- 
acteristic of  almost  every  industry  in  which  women  are  em- 
ployed; the  degree  varies,  but  the  great  majority  of  work- 
ers must  count  on  some  weeks  of  complete  idleness  and  of 
short  time.  In  the  garment  trades,  for  example,  a  girl  may 
have  only  three  months  of  full-time  work.  During  this  busy 
season  she  may  work  not  only  full-time  but  over-time  also. 
For  some  six  months  she  will  be  employed  on  short-time, 
varying  from  two  to  five  days  a  week.  In  the  sewing  trades, 
for  between  two  and  three  months,  she  will  find  no  employ- 
ment at  all.  In  the  paper-box  industry  she  will  be  what 
may  be  called  a  steady  worker  only  if  she  comes  within 
that  fifteen  per  cent  of  the  workers  who  are  employed  for 
eleven  months  or  more.  She  will  find,  however,  that  in  the 
course  of  the  year  one-half  of  her  fellow-workers  will  stay 
in  the  same  shop  less  than  two  months,  and  two-fifths  will 
be  there  four  weeks  or  less.  Large  numbers  remain  only  a 
few  days  or  hours  and  then  slip  out  into  other  factories  or 
into  a  period  of  idleness.  In  the  confectionery  trade,  to 
take  a  final  illustration,  the  irregularity  of  employment  is 
even  more  marked.  Only  twelve  per  cent  of  the  women 
employed  in  New  York  candy  factories  (1912-1913)  held 
their  places  for  more  than  eleven  months.  Nearly  one-half 
remained  in  the  same  factory  less  than  four  weeks,  and  two- 
thirds  had  less  than  three  months'  continuous  employment. 

In  view  of  what  may  be  called  the  normal  irregularity  of 
employment,  it  is  evident  that  wage  legislation  which 
does  not  reckon  with  it,  will  to  that  extent  fall  short  of 
securing  a  living  wage  to  the  worker.  The  wage  rate  must 
be  sufficiently  high  to  cover  the  unemployed  time,  or  wage 
legislation  must  be  supplemented  by  unemployment  insur- 
ance or  by  other  measures  providing  for  compensation  dur- 
ing periods  of  involuntary  idleness. 

Promising  as  minimum-wage  laws  are  as  a  remedy  for 


I7g  WOMEN'S  WAGES  [178 

low  wages,  it  would  be  very  unfortunate  if  they  should 
be  allowed  to  obscure  the  value  and  necessity  of  voluntary 
action.  They  are  a  great  step  forward,  but  after  all,  they 
mark  only  a  beginning  in  establishing  the  economic  claims 
of  women  as  a  class  of  workers.  Such  evidence  as  we  have 
tends  to  show  that  they  benefit  most  the  workers  under 
twenty-one  years  of  age.  In  fact,  that  has  been  a  distinct 
ground  of  complaint  on  the  part  of  older  workers.  It  will 
be  well  if  this  discontent  among  adult  women  tends  to  stim- 
ulate voluntary  effort  to  secure  the  higher  earnings  that 
continue  to  be  a  matter  of  bargaining.  As  a  matter  of  prin- 
ciple, the  writer  would  maintain  that  wage  legislation  should 
properly  apply  only  to  minors  and  that  adult  women  should 
not  be  classed  as  children.  It  is  argued  by  some,  and  we 
believe  with  a  fair  degree  of  soundness,  that  fixing  a  wage 
for  both  women  and  girls  will  militate  to  some  extent  against 
the  higher  earnings  of  adults.  We  do  not  fear  that  the 
minimum  will  actually  become  the  maximum,  but  that  is 
chiefly  because  we  have  faith  in  the  growing  determination 
of  women  to  establish  rates  of  pay  on  the  basis  of  the  work 
performed  in  that  field  where  wages  are  still  a  matter  of 
bargaining. 

Many  influences  are  at  work  to  strengthen  an  already 
well-developed  organization  of  women.  With  the  rapid 
breaking-down  of  the  exclusiveness  of  a  labor  movement 
organized  on  craft  lines,  we  are  entering  upon  a  new  period 
in  which  unskilled  labor  is  assuming  more  of  a  claim  to 
consideration.  It  is  to  the  human  element,  especially  in  the 
great  ranks  of  semi-skilled  and  unskilled  workers,  that  per- 
sonnel experts  and  industrial  counsellors  are  giving  their 
attention.  Women  are  too  important  as  productive  factors 
in  this  industrial  group  to  be  ignored  or  relegated  to  a  negli- 
gible position.  In  women  themselves  there  is  a  new  spirit, 
also  a  new  sense  of  their  importance  as  economic  units,  a 


179]  CONCLUSION  I79 

new  valuation  of  the  pay  envelope.  If  women  are  going  to 
advance  substantially  in  their  position  as  wage-earners,  it  is 
vitally  important  to  strengthen .  their  voluntary  organized 
efforts. 

Finally,  we  have  indicated  the  indispensable  value  of  effort 
more  seriously  directed  toward  vocational  ends.  Abil- 
ity is  too  rare  not  to  be  used  wherever  found,  whether  in 
boys  or  girls.  The  breakdown  of  the  boundaries  between 
"  men's  work  "  and  "  women's  work  "  which  is  going  on 
in  factory  and  shop  should  enlarge  the  freedom  of  choice 
of  occupation  for  girls.  We  have  made  no  more  than  a  be- 
ginning in  our  American  experiment  with  vocational  edu- 
cation, so  that  the  time  is  favorable  for  the  adoption  of  a 
program  that  shall  insure  the  maximum  contribution  to 
productive  work  by  both  men  and  women. 

To-day  the  labor  movement  the  world  over  makes  a  new 
challenge  to  women  to  wrestle  with  the  problem  of  adjust- 
ing their  necessities  and  obligations  as  producers  to  the 
claims  of  an  environment  still  largely  dominated  by  the 
tradition  of  economic  dependence  and  restricted  economic 
opportunity.  The  wages  they  receive  are  a  specific  test  of 
their  economic  status.  Protective  legislation  will  raise  it, 
but  the  most  enduring  gains,  if  they  are  to  be  achieved  at 
all,  will  come  through  a  more  adequate  preparation  for 
wage-earning,  and  through  the  demands  of  organized  work- 


ing" women  themselves. 


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CONSTITUTIONAL  POWER  AND  WORLD  AFFAIRS.  By  George  Suth- 
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WORLD  ORGANIZATION  AS  AFFECTED  BY  THE  NATURE  OF  THE 
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OUR  CHIEF  MAGISTRATE  AND  HIS  POWERS.  By  William  Howard 
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VOLUME  I,  1891-92.    2nd  Ed.,  1897.    396  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $3.50. 

1.  The  Divorce  Problem.    A  Study  in  Statistics.  .  I 

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VOLUME  II.  1892-93.    (See  note  on  last  page.) 

1.  f5l  The  Economics  of  the  Russian  Village. 

x.  iuj  -mc  By  Isaac  A.  Hourwich,  Ph.D.     (Out  of  print). 

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[16]  History  of  Proprietary  Government  in  Pennsylvania. 

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3.  [21]  The  Abolition  of  Privateering  and  the  Declaration  of  Paris. 

By  Francis  R.  Stark,  LL.B.,  Ph.D.     Price,  fi  00. 

4.  [22]  Public  Administration  in  Massachusetts.    The  Relation  of  Central 

to  Local  Activity.  By  Robert  Harvey  Whittbn,  Ph.D.     Price,  >i.oo, 


VOLUME  IX,  1897-98.    617  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.00. 

1.  [23]  *English  Local  Government  of  To-day.    A  Study  of  the  Relations  oi 

Central  and  Local  Government.  By  Milo  Roy  Maltbie,  Ph.D.    Price,  >2.oo, 

2.  [24]  German  Wage  Theories.    A  History  of  their  Development. 

By  James  W.  Crook,  Ph.D.     Price,  gi.oo. 
8.  [35]  The  Centralization  of  Administration  in  New  York  State. 

By  John  Archibald  Fairlie,  Ph.D.     Price,  gi.oo, 


I, 


£, 


VOLUME  X,  1898-99.    409  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $3.50. 

I.  [86]  Sympathetic  Strikes  and  Sympathetic  Lockouts. 

By  Ered  S.  Hall,  Ph.D.     Price,  $i.oa 
J.  [27]  *Rhode  Island  and  the  Formation  of  Ihe  Union. 

By  Frank  Greene  Bates,  Ph.D.     Price,  Si. 50. 

5.  [38].  Centralized  Administration  of  Liquor  Laws  In  the  American  Com* 

monwealths.  By  Clement  Moobb  LackY  Sites,  Ph.D.     Price,  $1. 00. 

VOLUME  XI,  1899.    495  pp.    Price,  cloth,  4.00;  paper  covers,  $3.50. 

39]  The  Growth  of  Cities.  By  Adna  Fbruin  "Wbber  Ph.D. 

VOLUME  XII,  1899-1900.    586  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.C0. 

L.  [30]  History  and  Functions  of  Central  Labor  Unions. 

By  William  Maxwell  Burkb,  Ph.D.     Price,  $1.00. 
i.  [31.]  Colonial  Immigration  Laws. 

Bv  Edward  Emerson  Proprr,  A.M.     Price,  75  cents. 
;.  [32]  History  of  Military  Pension  Legislation  in  the  United  States. 

By  William  Henky  Glasson,  Ph.D.     1'rice,  $1.00. 
t.  [33]  History  of  the  Theory  of  Sovereignty  since  Roussoau. 

By  CHAKLts  h-.  Mkkkiam,  jr.,  Ph.D.     Price,  $1.50. 

VOLUME  XIII,  1901.    570  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.00. 

L.  [34]  The  Legal  Property  Relations  of  Married  Parties. 

By  lsmoii  Loeb,  Ph.D.     Price,  gi.50. 
5.  [35]  Political  Nativism  in  New  York  State. 

By  Lorn  Dow  Scisco,  Ph.D.     Price,  $2.00. 
1.  [38]  The  Reconstruction  of  Georgia.         By  Edwin  C.  Woollky,  Ph.D.    Price,  $1.00. 

VOLUME  XIV,  1901-1902.    576  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4-00. 

L.  [37]  Loyallsm  in  New  York  during  the  American  Revolution. 

by  Alexander  Clarence  Flick,  Ph.D.     Price.  $2.00. 
'.  [3S]  The  Economic  Theory  of  Risk  and  Insurance. 

By  Allan  H.  Willett.  Ph.D.     Price,  $1.50. 
[.  [39]  The  Eastern  Question:  A  Study  In  Diplomacy. 

By  Stephen  P.  H.  Duggan.  Ph.D.     Price,  $1.00. 

VOLUME  XV,  1902.    427  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $3.50;  Paper  covers,  $3.00. 

40]  Crime  in  Its  Relation  to  Social  Progress.       By  Arthur  Cleveland  Hall,  Ph.D. 

VOLUME  XVI,  1902-1903.    547  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.00. 

,  [41]  The  Past  and  Present  of  Commerce  in  Japan. 

By  Yetaro  Kinosita,  Ph.D,  Price,  #1.50. 
,  [42]  The  Employment  of  "Women  in  the  Clothing  Trade. 

By  M  abel  Hurd  Willet,  Ph.D.  Price,  $1.50. 

,  [43]  The  Centralization  of  Administration  in  Ohio. 

By  Samuel  P.  Orth,  Ph.D.     Price,  $1.50. 

VOLUME  XVn,  19C3.    635  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.00. 

T44]  "Centralizing  Tendencies  in  the  Administration  of  Indiana. 

L  By  William  A.  Rawles,  Ph.D.     Price,  <2. 50. 

.[45]  Principles  of  Justice  in  Taxation.     By  Stephen  F.  Weston,  Ph.D.    Price,  $2.00. 

VOLUME  XVIII,  1903.    753  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.50. 

[46]  The  Administration  of  Iowa.       By  Harold  Martin  Bowman,  Ph.D.    Pr  ce,  $1.50. 
.  [47]  Turgot  and  the  Six  Edicts.  By  Robert  P.  Shepherd,  Ph.D.     Price,  $1.50. 

.  [48]  Hanover  and  Prussia,  1795-1803.        By  Guy  Stanton  Ford,  Ph.D.    Price,  $2.00. 

VOLUME  XIX,  1903-1905.    588  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.00. 

,  [49]  Josiah  Tucker,  Economist.  By  Walter  Ernest  Clark   PhD.     Price,  $1.50. 

.  [50J  Hlstorv  and  criticism  of  the  Labor  Theory  of  Value  in  English  Polit- 
ical Economy.  By  Albert  C  Whitakbr,  Ph.D.     Price,  $1.50. 
.  [51]  Trade  Unions  and  the  Law  in  New  York.  . 

By  George  Gorham  Groat,  Ph.D.     Price.  $1. 00. 

VOLUME  XX,  1904.    514  pp.    Price,  cloth.  $3.50. 

.  [581  The  Office  of  the  Justice  of  the  Peace  in  England. 

By  Charles  Austin  BhARD,  Ph.D.     Price,  $1.50. 

.  [531  A  Hlstorv  of  Military  Government  in  Newly  Acquire'!  Territory  of 
the  United  States.  By  David  V.  Thomas,  Ph.D.     Price,  *2.oo. 

VOLUME  XXI,  1904.    746  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.50. 

.  [54]  "Treaties,  their  Making  and  Enforcement.  . 

11  By  Samuel  B.  Crandall,  Ph.D.     Price,  $1.50. 

.  [55]  The  Sociology  of  a  New  York  City  Block.  «.«»•* 

*  l       J  By  Thomas  Jesse  Jones,  Ph.D.     Price,  $1.00. 

.  [56]  Pre-Malthusian  Doctrines  of  Population. 

1       J  By  Charles  E.  Stangeland,  Ph.D.     Price,  fa. 50. 


VOLUME  XXII,  1905.    520  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $3.50;  paper  covers,  $3.00.  L 

[57]  The  Historical  Development  of  the  Poor  Law  of  Connecticut. 

1       J  By  Edward  w.  Cafbn,  Ph.  D.« 

VOLUME  XXIII,  1905.    594  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.00. 

1.  [58]  The  Economics  of  Land  Tenure  in  Georgia.  m,  n     t>  ■      * 

L       J  By  Enoch  Marvin  Banks,  Ph.D.     Price,  gi.oo. 

2.  [59]  Mistake  in  Contract.    A  Study  In  Comparative  .Jurisprudence. 

By  Edwin  C.  McKeag,  Ph.D.     Price,  gi.oo. 

3.  [60]  Combination  in  the  Mining  Industry.  . 

1       J                                                                                             By  Henry  R.  Mussby,  Ph.D.  Price,  $1.00. 

4.  [61]  The  English  Craft  Guilds  and  the  Government. 

By  Stella  Krambk.  Ph.D.  Price,  gi.oo. 

VOLUME  XXIV,  1905.    521  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.00. 

1.  [68]  The  Place  of  Magic  in  the  Intellectual  History  of  Europe. 

By  Lynn  Thokndike,  Ph.D.     Price,  gi.oo. 

2.  [63]  The  Ecclesiastical  Edicts  of  the  Theodosian  Code. 

By  William  K.  Boyd,  Ph.D.     Price,  gi.oo. 

3.  [64]  *The  International  Position  of  Japan  as  a  Great  Power. 

By  Skiji  G.  Hishiua,  Ph.D.     Price,  $2.00. 

VOLUME  XXV,  1906-07.    600  pp.    (Sold  only  in  Sets.) 

1.  [65]  *MunlcIpal  Control  of  Public  Tjtilltles. 

By  O.  L.  Pond,  Ph.D.    (Not  sold  separately.) 

2.  [66]  The  Budget  In  the  American  Commonwealths. 

By  Eugene  E.  Aggbr,  Ph.D.     Price,  J1.50. 

3.  [67]  The  Finances  of  Cleveland.  By  Charles  C.  Williamson,  Ph.D.    Price,  $2.00, 

VOLUME  XXVI  ,19a1?.  '  559  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.00. 

1.  [68]  Trade  and  Currency  In  Early  Oregon. 

By  Tames  H.  Gilbert,  Ph.D.     Price,  fi.oa. 

2.  [69]  Luther's  Table  Talk.  By  Preserved  Smith,  Ph.D.     Price,  gi.oo, 

3.  [70]  The  Tobacco  Industry  in  the  United  States. 

By  Meyer  Jacobstwn,  Ph.D.     Price,  $1.50, 

4.  [71]  Social  Democracy  and  Population. 

Fy  Alvan  A.  Tbnney,  Ph.D.     Price,  75  cents. 

VOLUME  XXVII,  1907.    578  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.00. 

1.  [73]  The  Economic  Policy  of  Robert  Walpole. 

By  Norris  A.  Brisco,  Ph.D.     Price,  $1.50. 

2.  [73]  The  United  States  Steel  Corporation. 

By  Abraham  Berclund,  Ph.D.     Price,  $1  50 

3.  [74]  The  Taxation  of  Corporations  In  Massachusetts. 

By  Harry  G.  Friedman,  Ph.D.     Price,  $1.50 

VOLUME  XXVni.  1907.    564  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.00. 

1.  [75]  DeWitt  Clinton  and  the  Origin  of  the  Spoils  System  in  New  York. 

By  Howard  Lee  McBain,  Ph.D.     Price,  $1.50. 

2.  [76]  The  Development  of  the  Legislature  of  Colonial  Virginia. 

By  Elmsk  I.  Miller,  Ph.D.     Price,  $1.50. 

3.  [77]  The  Distribution  of  Ownership. 

By  Joseph  Harding  Underwood,  Ph.D.    Price,  $1. 50. 

VOLUME  XXIX,  1908.    703  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.50. 

■ly  New  England  Towns,  By  Ar 

T9J  New  Hampshire  as  a  Royal  Province. 


1.   [78]  Early  New  England  Towns.  By  Anne  Bush  MacLeak,  Ph.D.    Price,  #1.50. 

8.   [79J  New  Hampshire  as  a  Royal  Province. 

By  William  H.  Fry,  Ph.D.     Price,  $3.00. 

VOLUME  XXX,  1908.    712  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.50  ;  Paper  covers,  $4.00. 

[80]  The  Province  of  New  Jersey,  1664—1738.  By  Edwin  P.  Tanner,  Ph.D. 

VOLUME  XXXI,  1908.    575  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.00. 

1.  [81]  Private  Freight  Cars  and  American  Railroads. 

By  L.  D.  H.  Weld,  Ph.D.     Price,  $1.50. 

2.  [821  Ohio  before  1850.  By  Robert  E.  Chaddock,  Ph.D.    Price,  $1. 50. 

3.  [83]  Consanguineous  Marriages  in  the  American  Population. 

By  George  B.  Louis  Arnbr,  Ph.D.     Price,  75  cents. 

4.  [84]  Adolphe  Quetelet  as  Statistician.       By  Frank  H.  Hankins,  Ph.D.    Price,  $1.25. 

VOLUME  XXXII,  1908.    705  pp.    Price,  cloth,  4.50;  paper  covers,  $4.00. 

85]  The  Enforcement  of  the  Statutes  of  Laborers. 

By  Bertha  Haven  Putnam,  Ph.D. 

VOLUME  XXXin,  1908-1909.    635  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.50. 

1.  [86]  Factory  Legislation  in  Maine.  By  E.  Stagg  Whitiw,  A.B.    Price,  Ji.oo. 

2.  [87J  'Psychological  Interpretations  of  Society. 

By  Michael  M.  Davis,  Jr.,  Ph.D.     Price,  $2.00. 
8.  [88]  *An  Introduction  to  the  Sources  relating  to  the  Germanic  Invasions. 

By  Caklton  J.  H.   Hayes,  Ph.D.    Price,  $1.50. 


VOLUME  XXXIV,  1909.    628  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.50. 

.  [89]  Transportation  and  Industrial  Development  In  the  Middle  West. 

By  William  F.  Gephakt,  Ph.D.     Price  *2  o* 
.  [90]  Social  Reform  and  the  Reformation. 

By  Jacob  Salwyn  Schapiro,  Ph.D.     Price.  $1.25. 
,  [91]  Responsibility  for  Crime.  By  Philip  A.  Parsons,  Ph.D.    Price,  $1.50. 

VOLUME  XXXV,  1909.    568  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.50. 

.  [98]  The  Conflict  over  the  Judicial  Powers  In  the  United  States  to  1870. 

By  Charles  Grove  Haines,  Ph.D.     Price  si  so' 
.  [98]  A  Study  of  the  Population  of  Manhattanville.  ' 

By  Howard  Brown  Wool3ton,  Ph.D.     Price  *i  2e 
,  [94]  'Divorce:  A  Study  in  8ocial  Causation. 

By  James  P.  Lichtbnbbrgbr,  Ph.D.     Price,  $1.50. 

VOLUME  XXXVI,  1910.    542  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.00. 

,  [95]  'Reconstruction  In  Texas.      By  Charles  William  Ramsdell.  Ph.  D      Price,  $3.50. 
.  [961  *  The  Transition  in  Virginia  from  Colony  to  Commonwealth. 

By  Charles  Ramsdell  Limglby,  Ph.D.     Price,  $1. 50. 

VOLUME  XXXVn,  1910.    606  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.50. 

.  [97]  Standards  of  Reasonableness  in  Local  Freight  Discriminations. 

By  John  Maurice  Clark,  Ph.D.     Price,  {1.25, 
.  [98]  Legal  Development  in  Colonial  Massachusetts. 

By  Charles  J.  Hilkey,  Ph.D.     Price,  $1.25. 
.  [99]  'Social  and  Mental  Traits  of  the  Negro. 

By  Howard  W.  Odum,  Ph.D.     Price,  $2.00. 

VOLUME  XXX VTH,  1910.    463  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $3.50. 

■  [100]  The  Public  Domain  and  Democracy. 

By  Robert  Tudor  Hill,  Ph.D.     Price,  £2.00. 
.  [lOl]  Organlsmic  Theories  of  the  State. 

By  Francis  W.  Coker,  Ph.D.    Price,  $1.50. 

VOLUME  XXXIX,  1910-1911.    651  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.50. 

.  [108]  The  Making  of  the  Balkan  States. 

By  William  Smith  Murray,  Ph.D.     Price,  $1.50. 
.  [108]  Political  History  of  New  York  State  during  the  Period  of  the  Civil 

War.  By  Sidney  Dayid  Bhummkk,  Ph.  D.     Price,  3.00. 

VOLUME  XL,  1911.    633  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.50. 

,  [104]  A  Survey  of  Constitutional  Development  In  China. 

By  Hawkling  L.  Ybn,  Ph  D.    Price,  rti.oo. 
.  [105]  Ohio  Politics  during  the  Civil  War  Period. 

By  Georgb  H.  Porter,  Ph.D.     Price,  $1.75. 
,  [106]  The  Territorial  Basis  of  Government  under  the  State  Constitutions. 

By  Alfred  Zahtzinger  Reed,  Ph.D.     Price,  $  1.75. 

VOLUME  XLI,  1911.    514  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $3.50;  paper  covers,  $3.00. 

[107]  New  Jersey  as  a  Royal  Province.  By  Edgar  Jacob  Fisher,  Ph.  D. 

VOLUME  XLII,  1911.    400  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $3.00;  paper  covers,  $2.50. 

[108J  Attitude  of  American  Courts  in  Labor  Cases. 

By  George  Gorham  Groat,  Ph.D. 

VOLUME  XLIH,  1911.    633  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.50. 

[109]  'Industrial  Causes  of  Congestion  of  Population  in  New  York  City. 

By  Edward  Ewing  Pratt,  Ph.D.     Price,  $2.00. 

fllO]  Education  and  the  Mores.  By  F.  Stuart  Chapin,  Ph.D.    Price,  75  cents. 

Ill]  The  British  Consuls  in  the  Confederacy. 

By  Milledge  L.  Bonham,  Jr.,  Ph.D.    Price,  $2.0*. 

VOLUMES  XLIV  and  XLV,  1911.    745  pp. 
Price  for  the  two  volumes,  cloth,  $6.00  ;  paper  covers,  $5.00. 

[118  and  118]  The  Economic  Principles  of  Confucius  and  his  School. 

By  Chen  Huan-Chang,  Ph.D. 

VOLUME  XLVI,  1911-1912.^  623  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.50. 

ril4]  The  Ricardian  Socialists.  By  Esther  Lowenthal,  Ph.D.    Price,  $i.oa 

[115]  Ibrahim  Pasha,  Grand  Vizier  of  Suleiman,  the  Magnificent. 

By  Hester  Donaldson  Jenkins,  Ph.D.     Price,  Ji.oo, 
[116]  'Syndicalism  In  France.  _ 

By  Louis  Lbvimb,  Ph.D.    Second  edition,  1914.    Price,  $1. 50, 
[117]    A  Hoosler  Village.  By  Nbwell  Leroy  Sims,  Ph. a.    Price.  Ji. 50. 


VOLUME  XL VII,  1912.    544  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.00. 

1.  [118]  The  Politics  of  Michigan,  1865-1878, 

*v  '  By  HarriettbM.  Dilla,  Ph.D.     Price,  $2.00. 

8.  [119]  *The  United  States  Beet  Sugar  Industry  and  the  Tariff. 

*  By.  Roy  G.  Blakey,  Ph.D.     Price,  $2.00. 

VOLUME  XL VIII,  1912.    493  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.00. 

1.  [180]  Isidor  of  Seville.  By  Ernest  Brbhaut,  Ph.  D.    Price,  ga.oo. 

8.  [181]  Progress  and  Uniformity  in  Child-Labor  Legislation. 

L  By  William  Fielding  Ogburn,  Ph.D.     Price,  gi. 75. 

VOLUME  XLIX,  1912.    592  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.50. 

1.  [133]  British  Radicalism  1791-1797.  By  Walter  Phrlps  Hall.    Price.g2.00. 

3.  1183]  A  Comparative  Study  of  the  Law  of  Corporations. 

L  By  Arihur  K.  Kuhn,  Ph.D.     Price,  $1. 50. 

8.  [184]  *The  Negro  at  Work  in  New  York  City. 

1  By  George  E.  Haynes.  Ph.D.     Price,  $1.25. 

VOLUME  L,  1911.    481  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.00. 

1.  [185]  *The  Spirit  of  Chinese  Philanthropy.        By  Yai  Yub  Tsu,  Ph.D.    Price.gi.oo. 
8.  [186]  *The  Alien  in  China.  By  Vi.  Xyuin  Wellington  Koo,  Ph.D.    Price, $2.50. 

VOLUME  LI,  1912.    4to.  Atlas.    Price:  cloth,  $1.50;  paper  covers,  $1.00. 

1.  [187]  The  Sale  of  LiQuor  In  the  South. 

By  Leonard  S.  Blakey,  Ph.D. 

VOLUME  LH,  1912.    489  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.00. 

1.  [188]  *Provinclal  and  Local  Taxation  in  Canada. 

By  Solomon  Vinbbbrg,  Ph.D.     Price,  $1.50. 
8.  [189]  *The  Distribution  of  Income. 

By  Frank  Hatch  Streightopf,  Ph.D.     Price,  gi.50. 
8.  [130]  *The  Finances  of  Vermont.  By  Frederick  A.  Wood,  Ph.D.    Price,  $1.00. 

VOLUME  LIII,  1913.    789  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.50;  paper,  $4.00. 
[131]  The  Civil  War  and  Reconstruction  in  Florida.        By  W.  W.  Davis,  Ph.D. 

VOLUME  LIV,  1913.    604  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.50. 

1.  [138]    'Privileges  and  Immunities  of  Citizens  of  the  United  States. 

By  Arnold  Johnson  Lien,  Ph.D.     Price,  75  cents. 
3.  [133]    The  Supreme  Court  and  Unconstitutional  Legislation. 

By  Blainb  Free  Moorb,  Ph.D.     Price,  gi.oo. 

8.  [134]  *Indian  Slavery  in  Colonial  Times  within  the  Present  Limits  of  the 

United  States.  By  Almon  Wheeler  Laubkr,  Ph.D.     Price,  $3.00. 

VOLUME  LV,  1913.    665  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.50. 

1.  [135]    *A  Political  History  of  the  State  of  New  York. 

By  Homhk  A.  Stbbbins,  Ph.D.     Price,  $4.00. 
8.  [  136]    *The  Early  Persecutions  of  the  Christians. 

By  Leon H.  Canfibld,  Ph.D.     Price,    $1.50. 

VOLUME  LVI,  1913.    406  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $3.50. 

1.  [137]  Speculation  on  the  New  York  Stock  Exchange,  1904-1907. 

By  Algernon  Ashburner  Osborne.      Price,  $1.50. 
8.  [138]  The  Policy  of  the  United  States  towards  Industrial  Monopoly. 

By  Oswald  Whitman  Knauth,  Ph.D.     Price,  Js.oo. 

VOLUME  LVII,  1914.    670  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.50. 

1.  [139]  *The  Civil  Service  of  Great  Britain. 

By  Robert  Moses,  Ph.D.     Price,  $2.00. 
8.  [140]  The  Financial  History  of  New  York  State. 

By  Don  C.  Sowers.     Price,  $2.50, 

VOLUME  LVIII,  1914.    684  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.50;  paper,  $4.00. 

[141]  Reconstruction  in  North  Carolina. 

By  J.  G.  db  Roulhac  Hamilton,  Ph.D. 

VOLUME  LIX,  1914.    625  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.50. 

1.  [148]  The  Development  of  Modern  Turkey  by  means  of  its  Press. 

By  Ahmed  Emin,  Ph.D.     Price,  |i.oo. 
8.  [143]  The  System  of  Taxation  in  China,  1614-1911. 

By  Shao-Kwan  Chen,  Ph.  D.     Price,  $1.00. 

3.  [1441  The  Currency  Problem  in  China.  By  Wen  Pin  Wei,  Ph.D.    Price,  £1.25. 

4.  [146]  'Jewish  Immigration  to  the  United  States. 

By  Samuel  Joseph,  Ph.D.     Price,  $1.50. 


VOLUME  LX.    1914.    516  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.00. 

1.  f  146]  *Constantlne  the  Great  and  Christianity. 

By  Chkistophbr  Bush  Coleman,  Ph.D.     Price,  fi  oo 
8.  [147]  The  Establishment  of  Christianity  and  the  Proscription  of    Pa- 
ganism. By  Maud  Alinb  Huttman,  fn.lJ.     Pric.;,  *2.-jo 

VOLUME  LXI.    1914.    496  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4  00. 

1.  [148]  *The  Railway  Conductors:  A  Study  In  Organized  Labor. 

By  Edwin  Clyde  Robbins.     Price.  *i  so. 
8.  [149]  *The  Finances  of  the  City  of  New  York. 

By  Yin-Ch'u  Ma,  Ph.D.     Price,  J2.50. 

VOLUME  LXII.    1914.    414  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $3.50. 

[150]  The  Journal  of  the  Joint  Committee  of  Fifteen  on  Reconstruction. 
39th  Congress,  1865— 1867.  By  Benjamin  B.  Kbndrick,  Ph.D.     Price,  $300. 

VOLUME  LXIII.    1914.    561  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.00. 

1.  [151]  Emile  Durkheim's  Contributions  to  Sociological  Theory. 

By  Charles  Elmer  Gkhlkb,  Ph.D.     Price,  $1.50. 

2.  [152]  The  Nationalization  of  Railways  In  Japan. 

By  Toshiharu  Watarai,  Ph.D.     Price,  $1  25. 

3.  [153]  Population:  A  Study  in  Malthuslanism. 

By  Warren  S.  Thompson,  Ph.D.     Price,  J1.75 

VOLUME  LXIV.    1915.    646  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.50. 

1.  [154]  "Reconstruction  In  Georgia.  By  C.  Mildred  Thompson,  Ph.D.     Price,  3.00. 

8.  [155]  *The  Review  of  American  Colonial  Legislation  by  the    Kins:    in 
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VOLUME  LXV.    1915.    524  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $400. 

1.  [156]  *The  Sovereign  Council  of  New  France 

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8.  [157]  *Scientiflc  Management  (2nd.  ed.  1918). 

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VOLUME  LXVI.    1915.    655  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.50. 

1.  [158]  *The  Recognition  Policy  of  the  United  States. 

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8.  [159]  Railway  Problems  in  China.  By  Chih  Hsu,  Ph.D.  Price.  «i. 50. 

3.  [160]  *The  Boxer  Rebellion.  By  Paul  H.  Clements,  Ph.D.  Price,  £2.00. 

VOLUME  LXVII.    1916.    538  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.00. 

1.  [161]  *Russian  Sociology.  By  Julius  F.  Hbcker,  Ph.D.    Price,  $2. 50 

2.  L162J  State  Regulation  of  Railroads  in  the  South. 

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VOLUME  LXVIII.    1916.    518  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4  50. 

[163]  The  Origins  of  the  Islamic  State.         By  Philip  K.  Hitti,  Ph.D.    Price,  $4  00. 

VOLUME  LXIX.    1919.    489  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.00. 

1.  [164]  Railway  Monopoly  and  Rate  Regulation. 

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2.  [165]  The  Butter  Industry  In  the  United  States. 

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VOLUME  LXX.    1916.    540  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.50. 

[166]  Mohammedan  Theories  of  Finance  «.««•- 

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VOLUME  LXXI.    1916.    476  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.00. 

t.  f  1671  The  Commerce  of  .Louisiana  during  the  French  Regime,  1699—1763. 

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1.  [168]  American  Men  of  Letters:  Their  Nature  and  Nurture. 

1  '  By  Edwin  Leavitt  Clarkb,  Ph.D.  Price,  #1.50. 

5.  [169]  The  Tariff  Problem  in  China.  By  Chin  Chu,  Ph.D.  Price.  fi.5o. 

J.  L170J  The  Marketing  of  Perishable  Food  Products^  ^^  ph  D  prfee  ^ 

VOLUME  LXXIII.    1919.    616  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.50. 

II.  [171]  *The  Social  and  Economic  Aspects  of  the  Chartist  Movement. 
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1.  [174]  The  Rise  of  Ecclesiastical  Control  In  Quebec. 

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i.  [175]  Political  Opinion  in  Massachusetts  during  the  Civil  War  and  Re- 
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1.  [179]  *Economic  and  Social  History  of  I :lio wan  County,  North  Carolina. 

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2.  [ISO]  Separation  ol  State  and  Local  Revenues  in  the  United  States. 

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VOLUME  LXXVII.    1917.    473  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.00. 

f  18 II  American  Civil  Church  Law.  By  Carl  Zollmann,  tL.B.    Price,  $3.50. 

VOLUME  LXXVIII.    1917.    647  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.50. 

[1S3]  The  Colonial  Merchants  and  the  American  Revolution. 

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I.  [1881   Contemporary   Theories   ol   Unemployment  and   Unemployment 
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VOLUME  LXXX.    1918.    448  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $400. 

1 .  [185]  *Valuation  and  Rate  Making.  By  Robert  L.  Hale,  Ph.D.  Price,  $1.50. 

3.  [186]  The  Enclosure  ol  Open  Fields  In  England. 

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3.  [187]  The  Laud  Tax  in  China.  By  H.  L.  Huang,  Ph.D.  Price,  $1.50. 

VOLUME  LXXXI.    1918-    601pp.    Price, cloth  $4.50. 

1 .  [  188]  Social  Life  in  Rome  in  the  Time  of  Plautus  and  Terence. 

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3.  [189]  *Australlan  Social  Development. 

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3.  [190]  *Factory  Statistics  and  Industrial  Fatigue. 

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VOLUME  LXXXII.    1918-1919.    576  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.50. 

1.  [1911  New  England  and  the  Bavarian  Illumlnati. 

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VOLUME  LXXXIII.    1919.    432  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4  00. 

[193]  The  I.  W.  W.  By  Paul  F.  Brissenden,  Ph.D.    Price.  83.50. 

VOLUME  LXXXIV.    1919.    534  pp.    Price,  cloth,  $4.50. 

1.  [194|  The  Royal  Government  in  Virginia,  1634-1775. 

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1198]  The  Decline  of  Aristocracy  in  the  Politics  of  New  York. 

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[1991  Forelern  Trade  of  China.  By  Chong  Su  See,  Ph.D.     Price,  $3.50. 

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By  Leonora  Arbnt.    {In  press). 

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1.  (2021  Women's  Wages.                                 By  Emilie  J.  Hutchinson,  Ph.D.    Price,  Ji. 50. 
3.  [303]  The  Penitentials.       By  T.  P.  Oakley.    {In  press). 

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